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FRANCE    UNDER    MAZARIN 


WITH    A    REVIEW   OF    THE 


ADMINISTRAT10NK)F  RICHELIEU 


JAMES   BRECK  PERKINS 


WITH    PORTRAITS. 


Vol.   II. 


FOURTH  EDITION. 


NEW    YORK    A    LONDON 

G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS 

%\t  jUnichcrbochtr  ^kbb 

1894 


\J 


COPYRIGHT    BV  ^>J^ 


JAMES    BRF.CK 


:/ 


Press  of 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

Ne\7  York 


CoII«g« 
library 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
Parliamentary  Fronde — 1648-1650. 

PAGE 

Prejudice  against  Mazarin  .........  i 

Complaints  of  the  Parliament      ........  2 

Edict  as  to  Loans        ..........  4 

The  Regent  Leaves  Paris    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  (y 

Beginning  of  Hostilities      .........  8 

Elboeuf  Made  General-in-Chief  ........  10 

He  is  Replaced  by  Conti     .........  12 

Madame  de  Longueville  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville     .....  13 

Condition  of  Paris       ..........  15 

Beaufort  Returns         ..........  16 

Accusations  of  Parliament  against  .Mazarin           .....  17 

Insurgents  Defeated  at  Cliarenton        .......  (8 

Envoy  of  Spain  Visits  Parliament         .         .         .         .         .         .         .20- 

Both  Parties  Weary  of  War 22 

Negotiations  at  Ruel 23 

Peace  of  Ruel     ...........  25 

Opposition  to  its  Acceptance 27 

Demands  of  the  Nobles       .........  30- 

Terms  Granted  Them          .........  33 

The  Treaty  is  Ratified         .........  34 

Troubles  in  the  Provinces   .........  35 

Disturbances  in  Guienne     .........  36 

Ravages  by  the  Soldiers       . .  38 

Position  of  Conde        ..........  39 

Brawls  at  Paris  ...........  41 

Defeat  at  Cambray      ..........  43 

The  Regent  Returns  to  Paris      ........  44 

Mazarin  brmgs  his  Nieces  to  France   .......  46 

Terms  Imposed  by  Conde  on  the  Government     .....  49 

Quarrels  over  the  Tabouret  .         '.         .         .         ,         .         .         .51 

Troubles  about  the  Rentes           ........  52 

• 


12307G0 


IV 


FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


PAOC 

Pretended  Attack  on  Joly    .........  54 

Assault  on  Conde        ..........  55 

Ketz  and  Beaufort  Accused  of  this  Attack 56 

Overtures  with  Retz  and  Others 59 

Affair  of  Jarze     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .61 

Marriage  of  Duke  of  Richelieu 62 

Intrigues  against  Conde      .........  63 

Arrest  of  the  Princes  ..........  64 

Disgrace  of  Riviere     ..........  66 

CHAPTER  XII. 


Revolts  for  the  Release  of  Cond6 — 1650-165 1. 


Madame  de  Longueville  Goes  to  Normandy 

Mazarin's  Alliance  with  the  Fronde 

Disturbances  in  the  Provinces 

Condc's  Wife  Goes  to  Bordeaux 

Insurrection  There 

Bordeaux  Besieged 

Epernon  Removed 

Terms  of  Peace  Made 

Spanish  Invade  France 

Invasion  Ended  . 

Losses  of  the  French  in  Italy 

The  Princes  Removed  to  Havre 

Discontent  at  Paris     . 

Retz  Demands  to  be  Cardinal 

Campaign  in  Champagne     . 

Victory  of  Rethel 

Alliance  Proposed  against  Mazarin 

Petitions  for  Conde's  Release 

Death  of  the  Princess  of  Conde 

Remonstrances  of  Parliament 

Terms  of  the  New  Alliance 

Orleans  Attacks  Mazarin     . 

He  Quarrels  with  the  Regent 

Mazarin  Retires  from  Office 

He  Goes  to  St.  Germain 

Unhappy  Condition  of  the  Regent 


67 
69 

7' 
73 
74 
76 
77 
79 

82 

84 
85 
87 
88 
89 
92 
93 
94 
96 

97 
99 
100 
102 
104 
105 
106 
108 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Exile  of  Mazarin — 1651. 


The  Princes  Released  by  Mazarin 

Power  of  Conde  and  Madame  de  Longueville 


109 
no 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS.  V 

PACE 

Mazarin  Ordered  to  Leave  France 112 

He  Goes  to  BrQhl 113 

Demand  for  the  States-General  .         . XI4 

Jealousy  of  the  Parliament  ,         .         .         .  .         .         .         .116 

Quarrel  between  Clergy  and  Parliament       .         .         .         .         .         .     1 1 3 

Changes  in  the  Ministry      .         . 120 

Chateauneuf  Loses  his  Office       ........     121 

Quarrels  between  the  Frondeurs  .         .         .         .         .         .         .122 

The  New  Alliance  Dissolved       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .124 

Mole  Removed  from  Office  .  .125 

Mazarin's  Letters  to  the  Queen  . .127 

Retz  Goes  into  Retirement  .         .         .        .         .         .         .         .128 

Intrigues  against  Conde       . .129 

Conde  Leaves  Paris     . .         .130 

His  Demands  upon  the  Regent  . 131 

Intrigues  for  Mazarin's  Return    ........     133 

Alliance  between  him  and  Retz  ........     134 

Proclamation  against  Conde         .         .         .         ,         .         .         .         .135 

Quarrels  between  Retz  and  Conde       .         .         .         .         .         .         .136 

Majority  of  Louis  XIV.       .........     139 

His  Character     .         .         ...         .         .         .         .         .         .         .     i-P- 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Condi's   Rebellion   and    Mazarin's   Return — 1651-1652. 

Changes  in  the  Ministry 144 

Conde  again  in  Rebellion    .........  145 

Alliance  with  the  Spanish  .........  147 

111  Success  of  Conde's  Forces 150 

Mazarin's  Desire  to  Return  .         .         .         ,         .         .         .         .152 

Conduct  of  Retz 154 

Mazarin  Marches  to  France 155 

He  Enters  the  Kingdom 156 

His  Library  is  Sold     . 158 

Conduct  of  the  Parliament .159 

Mazarin  Rejoins  the  Court           ........  160 

Intrigues  of  Retz  at  Rome 161 

He  is  Made  a  Cardinal 168 

Orleans  Allies  Himself  with  Cond^ 169 

Conde  Leaves  Guienne 1 70 

Death  of  Sirot     .         .         .         .         . 171 

Character  of  Mademoiselle 172 

She  Rescues  Orleans  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         ,         .  1 73 

Conde's  Victory  at  Bleneau .175 

He  Goes  to  Paris 176 


VI        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


Condition  of  that  City 

Intrigues  for  Peace 

Disturbances  at  Paris 

Capture  of  St.  Denis  . 

The  Duke  of  Lorraine  at  Paris 

Procession  to  St.  Genevieve 

Conduct  of  Beaufort    . 

Attacks  on  the  Judges 

Battle  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine 

Conde's  Troops  Admitted  into  Paris 


CHAPTER  XV. 


PACK 

179 
181 
182 
184 
186 
187 

iSS 
189 
193 


The  Close  of  the  Fronde — 1652-1653. 

Massacre  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville    . 195 

Feeling  against  Conde         .         .         .         .         ,         .         .         .         .199 

Orleans  Made  Lieutenant-General       .......     200 

Duel  between  Beaufort  and  Nemours  .         .         ,         .         .         .201 

Parliament  Summoned  at  Pontoise       .......     202 

Mazarin  Retires  from  France .     204 

Edict  of  Amnesty       .         .         .         .         .    '     .         .         .         .         .     205 

Ravages  of  the  Soldiers  near  Paris      .......     206 

Parisians  Desire  Peace         .........     207 

Delegations  Sent  to  the  King      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .210 

Conde  and  Lorraine  Retire  ,         .         .         .         .         .         .         .211 

The  King  Enters  Paris        .         .         .         .         .         .         ,         .         .     212 

Orleans  Sent  to  Blois  . .213 

Edict  Restricting  Power  of  the  Parliament .         .....     214 

Intrigues  of  Retz         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .216 

His  Arrest . 217 

Results  of  the  War  during  the  Fronde         ......     220 

Loss  of  Dunkirk  ..........     222 

Loss  of  Casal      ...........     224 

Catalonia  Subdued  by  the  Spanish 225 

Hostilities  against  Conde     .........     226 

Edicts  Imposing  New  Taxes        .         .     •    .         .         .         .         .         .     2^7 

Mazarin  Returns  to  Paris    .........     229 

Dinner  Given  Him  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville 230 

Troubles  in  Guienne  ..........     232 

Rebellion  of  Harcourt         .........     233 

The  Ormee,  at  Bordeaux     .........     234 

Terms  Granted  Daugnon    .........     238 

Negotiations  between  England  and  Bordeaux      .....     239 

Plan  for  a  Republic 241 

Siege  of  Bordeaux       .......  .         .     243 

End  of  the  Insurrection  in  Guienne 244 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


VU 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
War  with  Spain  and  Treaty  with  England — 1653-1656. 

PAGR 
246 

Harcourt  .  .  .  248 
249 
252 

253 
256 

257 
258 
260 
260 
262 
264 
266 
267 
268 
270 
271 

273 
276 

277 
278 
278 
279 
280 
281 
282 
283 
285 
286 
289 
291 
294 

295 
296 
297 
299 
300 
301 


Hostilities  between  France  and  Spain 

Arrest  of  Duke  of  Lorraine.     Terms  made  with 

Colbert's  Management  of  Mazarin's  Property 

Marriage  of  Mazarin's  Niece  with  Prince  of  Cont 

Consecration  of  Louis  XIV. 

Sieges  of  Stenai  and  Arras 

Capture  of  Stenai 

Relief  of  Arras   . 

Expedition  against  Naples  . 

Conduct  of  Duke  of  Guise  . 

Troubles  with  Retz     . 

He  Escapes  from  Prison 

He  Reaches  Rome 

Charges  Made  against  Him 

Death  of  Innocent  X. 

Election  of  Alexander  VII. 

Proceedings  against  Retz     . 

Trouble  with  his  Vicars  at  Paris 

Lionne  Recalled  from  Rome 

Retz  Leaves  Rome 

End  of  his  Career 

Imposition  of  a  Stamp  Duty 

Treatment  of  the  Parliament  by  Louis  XIV 

Origin  of  the  Saying  "  L'Etat,  C'est  moi  " 

The  Parliament  is  Tranquilized 

Campaign  of  1655 

Treason  of  Hocquincourt    . 

Alliance  with  Duke  of  Modena 

Negotiations  with  Cromwell 

The  Republic  of  England  Recognized 

Cromwell  Delays  in  Making  an  Alliance 

Charles  II.  Leaves  France 

Massacre  of  the  Vaudois 

Conduct  of  Cromwell 

Treaty  between  France  and  England 

Negotiations  for  Peace  with  Spain 

Trouble  with  the  Parliaments 

Further  Treaty  between  England  and  France 

CHAPTER  XVII. 


Peace  of  the  Pyrenees  and  Death   of  Mazarin — 1657- 

1661. 

Campaign  of  1657 302 

Complaints  of  Cromwell      .........     303 


Vlll 


FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


PAGB 

Capture  of  Mardyke 304 

Battle  of  the  Dunes 305 

Success  of  the  Allies   . 306 

Christine  of  Sweden   . 307 

Murder  of  Monaldeschi .310 

Death  of  Ferdinand  III. 311 

Intrigues  as  to  the  Election  of  a  New  Emperor  .         .         .         .         .312 

Dealings  of  France  with  the  Electors .313 

Proceedings  of  the  Congress         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .315 

Election  of  Leopold  I.         ........         .     316 

The  League  of  the  Rhine  Formed       .         .         .         .         .         .         .317 

Negotiations  for  Marriage  of  Louis  XIV 318 

Maria  Theresa    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .319 

Spanish  Minister  Visits  Paris 320 

The  French  Court  at  Lyons         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .321 

Preliminary  Treaty  Made  with  Spain  .......     322 

Passion  of  Louis  XIV.  for  Marie  Mancini 323 

Mazarin  Discourages  the  Marriage       .......     325 

Mazarin  and  Haro  Meet  at  Isle  of  Pheasants       .....     326 

Terms  Granted  Conde 328 

Negotiations  about  England        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .330 

Gramont  Sent  to  Spain        .........     331 

Terms  of  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees    .......     332 

Marriage  of  Louis  XIV. 334 

Career  of  Fouquet 335 

Financial  System         ..........     336 

Frauds  and  Extravagance  of  Fouquet  ......     338 

Plots  Formed  by  Him         .........     341 

His  Overthrow   ...........     343 

Influence  of  France  in  Europe 344 

Terms  Granted  Lorraine     .........     346 

Illness  of  Mazarin 347 

His  Death 348 

His  Fortune 348 

Careers  of  the  Nieces  of  Mazarin 350 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  Administration  and  the  Condition  of  the  People. 


Nature  of  the  French  Government 

Secretaries  and  Superintendent  of  Finance 

Frauds  in  the  Finances 

Condition  of  the  Army 

Condition  of  the  Navy" 

Internal  Duties  on  Goods 

Differences  in  Prices  . 


357 
358 
360 
362 
364 
366 
366 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS.  IX 

PAGE 

Condition  of  Manufactures 367 

Ravages  of  Pirates 368 

Trading  Companies     ..........  369 

Highways  ............  370 

Relative  Value  of  Money 371 

The  Taille 372 

Weight  of  this  Tax     ..........  373 

The  Taille  in  the  Pays  d'Etats    ........  374 

The  Gabelle 376 

Other  Indirect  Taxes           .........  379 

Cost  of  Collecting  Taxes 380 

Sales  of  Offices 381 

Amount  of  Rentes       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  382 

Population  of  France 383 

Population  of  Paris     ..........  384 

Wages 385 

Price  of  Wheat 387 

Condition  of  Agriculture     .........  389 

Prices  of  Meat  and  Other  Articles 390 

Relative  Condition  of  the  People         .......  391 

Ignorance  Among  the  People      ........  392 

Overflows  of  Rivers     ..........  393 

Debts  of  the  Towns 394 

Violence  Practised  by  Nobles      ........  395 

Misery  of  the  People  ..........  396 

Ravages  at  Laon  and  Marie  During  the  Wars      .....  397 

Sufferings  in  other  Provinces 403 

Fall  in  Rents 408 

Decrease  in  Population  during  the  Fronde  ......  409 

Comparative  Condition  of  the  French  Peasants  To-day  and  Then        .  410 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Social  Life  and  Customs. 

Numbers  of  the  Nobility 411 

Comparative  Expenses  of  Living .412 

Incomes  of  the  Nobility 413 

Their  Extravagance    ..........  414 

Cost  of  Dress 415 

Dress  of  Ladies 416 

Hunting      .                   417 

Gambling   .  .         .         .         .         .         .         ,         .         .         .418 

Duelling 419 

Quarrels  for  Precedence 420 

Education  among  the  Upper  Classes  .......  421 

Influence  and  Condition  of  the  Nobility 422 


FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


Prices  of  Various  Offices     .... 

Corruption  among  Holders  of  Political  Office 

Influences  Exerted  upon  Judges 

Nobility  of  the  Robe 

Incomes  of  Lawyers  and  Doctors 

Hours  of  Rising  and  of  Meals 

Luxuries  of  the  Table 

"Wine-Shops  and  Drinking 

Italian  Opera 

Comedies    . 

Theatres 

French  Academy 

Libraries  and  Laws  of  the  Press 

Newspapers 

Building  in  Paris 

Palace  of  Mazarin 

Library  Collected  by  Him 

Price  of  Land  and  Rate  of  Interest 

Improvements  in  Paris 

Cabs  and  Carriages 

Bad  Condition  of  Streets 

Robbers  in  Paris 

Bridges  in  Paris 

Robbers  in  the  Country 

Time  Required  for  Travel 

Mails  and  Rates  of  Postage 

Jardin  des  Plantes 

Punishment  of  Criminals 

Customs  as  to  Marriages 

Superstitions 

Prosecutions  for  Witchcraft 

Condition  of  the  Jews 

Literature  under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin 

Hotel  Rambouillet 

Malherbe  and  Balzac  . 

Voiture  and  Scudery  . 

Influence  of  the  Port  Royal 

Descartes   . 

Comeille  and  Moliere 

Letter  and  Memoir  Writing 


PACB 

424 
425 
427 
428 
429 
429 
430 
432 
433 

434 
435 
436 
437 
438 
440 
442 
443 
444 
445 
446 

447 
448 

449 
450 

451 
452 

453 
454 
455 
456 
458 

459 
460 

462 

463 
464 
465 
466 
467 
468 


CHAPTER  XX. 
The  Port  Royal. 


Condition  of  the  Galilean  Church 
Saint  Vincent  de  Paul 


469 
470 


TABLE   OF  COXTENTS.  xi 

PACE 

Monastery  of  the  Port  Royal       ........  471 

Its  Reformation  by  Mother  Angelique         ......  472 

Saint  Francis  of  Sales          .........  473 

Saint  Cyran  and  Jansenius  .........  475 

Publication  of  the  Augustinus 477 

The  Five  Propositions         .........  478 

The  Port  Royal  Defends  Jansenius 479 

Arnauld's  "  Frequent  Communion" 480 

The  Recluses  of  the  Port  Royal ........  481 

The  Little  Schools  of  the  Port  Royal 483 

Pascal          ............  484 

Position  of  the  Jesuits          . 485 

The  Provincial  Letters 486 

Their  Influence 489 

Miracles  at  the  Port  Royal 490 

Persecutions  of  the  Port  Royal 491 

Dissolution  of  the  Monastery 492 


FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU 
AND  MAZARIN. 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE   PARLIAMENTARY    FRONDE. 

The  treaty  of  Westphalia,  which  brought  religious  peace 
to  Europe  and  carried  France  to  the  Rhine,  was  hardly 
noticed  in  that  kingdom.  Few  of  the  chroniclers  of  that 
time  even  mention  it.  By  many  of  the  pamphleteers  of 
the  Fronde,  this  treaty  was  added  to  the  endless  list  of 
Mazarin's  crimes.  A  Mazarinade  of  1649  said  that  the 
minister  wore  the  purple  of  the  church  only  to  show  the 
bloody  stabs  he  had  inflicted  on  it  in  Germany ;  no  one 
could  read  the  treaty,  made  in  favor  of  the  Swedes  and 
Protestants  and  to  the  prejudice  of  the  Catholic  faith, 
and  believe  that  it  was  devised  by  any  one  but  a  Turk  or 
a  Saracen  disguised  under  the  cloak  of  a  cardinal.' 

Mazarin's  great  achievements  in  foreign  affairs  were  ob- 
scured both  by  the  din  of  faction,  and  by  the  tortuous  and 
ignoble  qualities  of  his  own  character.  By  a  strange  for- 
tune, among  a  people  most  easily  dazzled  by  success  in 
war  and  by  territorial  gains,  the  man  under  whom  Alsace, 
Roussillon,  and  much  of  Artois  were  added  to  France, 
was,  of  all  her  ministers,  most  hated  when  alive,  and  has 
obtained  but  a  scanty  popularity  with  posterity. 

Not  only  did  Mazarin  gain  nothing  by  the  triumphant 
end  of  the  German  war,  but  the  concession  of  the  edict  of 

'  Choix  des  Mazarinades,  vol.  i. ,  pp.  99,  loa 
I 


2        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

October  22d  was  equally  ineffectual  in  insuring  peace  for 
his  administration.  On  the  I2th  of  November  the  Parlia- 
ment again  assembled,  but  it  was  soon  seen  that  the  dis- 
contents had  not  been  allayed  by  the  vacation.'  The 
judges  returned  from  the  quiet  of  their  country  seats 
ready  for  tumultuous  debates  and  fierce  denunciations  of 
the  cardinal.  Many  of  the  provisions  of  the  edict  of 
October  had  been  distasteful  to  the  government,  and  they 
were  enforced  with  the  irregularity  of  reluctance. 

Complaints  were  soon  made  of  failures  to  comply  with 
its  regulations.  Fourteen  or  fifteen  millions  had  been 
raised  since  La  Meilleraie  had  charge  of  the  finances,  but 
the  soldiers  had  received  no  pay,  the  oflficials  no  wages, 
and  the  rentiers  no  interest. 

It  was  the  intention  of  the  queen,  said  Orleans  and 
Cond^  in  her  behalf,  to  execute  the  declaration  in  good 
faith,  and  if  there  had  been  any  violation  of  it  she  desired 
to  be  informed,  that  it  might  be  remedied;  but  if  pretexts 
were  sought  to  prevent  raising  the  necessary  supplies,  and 
if  it  was  endeavored,  under  the  pretence  of  seeking  the 
public  good,  to  raise  obstacles  to  the  government,  they 
would  be  the  first  to  advise  her  to  seek  the  necessary 
means  for  preserving  the  state  and  the  royal  authority.' 

There  were  many  who  were  quite  ready  to  obstruct  the 
government,  and  who  were  not  to  be  deterred  even  by  the 
threats  of  the  prince  of  Cond^.  The  public  denunciations 
of  Mazarin  became  more  bitter,  and  some  libels  that  were 
published  were  so  fierce  that,  tolerant  as  the  cardinal  was 
of  public  abuse,  he  had  the  printer  of  one  of  them  arrested 
and  banished,* 

He  could  not  be  wholly  indifferent  to  such  attacks  or 
to  the  countless  abusive  pamphlets,  which,  under  the 
name  of  Mazarinades,  furnished  the  chief  literature  of 
Paris.  "  It  is  hard,"  he  wrote  to  Servien,  "  to  be  exposed 
as  I  am  to  the  malice  of  those  who  circulate  reports  so 

'  Talon,  306.     Dis.  Vcn.,  cviii.,  154,  et passim. 
*  Tonmal  du  Parlement,  106-108.    Talon.  311,  312.    Dis.  Ven.,  cviii  .  160. 
•  Talon,  313. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  3 

false,  that  a  man  of  any  sense  or  affection  for  the  state  de- 
tests them.  I  need  an  extra  zeal  to  labor  for  a  public 
which  treats  me  so  ill  at  a  time  when,  without  vanity,  I 
could  say  it  has  received  some  fruit  from  my  labors.  I 
watch  night  and  day  for  the  quiet  of  the  kingdom,  and 
the  advantage  of  the  poorest  subject,  without  thought  of 
myself.  I  not  only  have  no  money,  but  the  most  of  my 
silver  and  jewels  are  in  pawn,  and  if  I  should  have  to  leave 
the  kingdom,  I  should  not  have  the  means  with  which  to 
make  the  journey." ' 

Mazarin  perhaps  exaggerated  his  poverty,  but  his  great 
fortune  was  not  accumulated  until  after  the  Fronde.  Before 
that  he  had  received  liberally,  but  he  had  expended  lavishly, 
and  his  finances  during  the  Fronde  were  in  almost  as  much 
confusion  as  those  of  the  government.  Mazarin  claimed 
the  credit  also  for  having  induced  the  queen  to  return  to 
Paris,  and  said  that  he  hoped  now  for  continued  harmony.* 

The  cardinal  was  universally  thought  responsible  be- 
cause the  negotiations  with  Spain  had  ceased,  and  the  war 
with  that  nation  still  continued.  He  gained  no  popular 
favor  because  he  had  obtained  an  honorable  peace  from 
Germany,  but  he  was  fiercely  attacked  because  he  failed  in 
obtaining  peace  with  Spain.  The  enormous  wealth  of  the 
farmers  of  taxes  and  financiers  seemed  more  conspicuous 
and  more  odious  in  a  time  of  general  misery,  and  the  hatred 
felt  towards  them,  was  felt  also  towards  him  who  allowed 
their  practices  and  their  gains.  Even  the  receipts  from  the 
taille  had  been  farmed,  a  thing  contrary  to  custom  and 
denounced  by  the  Court  of  Aids.' 

"It  was,"  says  a  lady  of  the  Court,  "  the  fashion  to  hate 

*  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  220-224.,  Oct.  30,  1648. 

*  Ibid.,  220.  It  is  necessary  at  some  times  to  have  Mazarin's  Camets  as 
well  as  his  letters,  to  know  what  his  views  really  were.  The  Carnet  which 
has  been  quoted  does  not  agree  with  the  tone  of  this  letter,  though  this  was 
written  to  one  of  his  most  trusted  political  agents.  In  a  letter  to  the  Prin- 
cess of  Orange  in  August,  1648,  he  recommends  the  bailli  of  Souvre  to  her, 
and  says  that  the  bailli  is  one  of  his  intimate  friends.  An  entry  in  his  Car- 
nets  not  long  before  gives  his  real  views  :  "  Souvre  is  a  rogue,  and  every  day 
I  know  it  more." — Carnet  viii.,  4.  *  Journal  du  Parlement,  107. 


4  FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Mazarin,"  and  the  fashion  spread  from  the  Palais  Royal  to 
the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine. 

The  courtier  must  profess  a  hatred  of  Mazarin  as  well 
as  observe  the  last  fashion  in  ruffles.  The  huckster 
abused  the  cardinal  as  he  sold  his  wares  and  thought  of 
his  taxes ;  his  confusion  was  drunk  in  the  taverns  by  the 
men  who  there  wasted  their  wages  or  the  money  they  had 
stolen,  and  even  the  gamin  vending  the  last  pamphlet 
along  the  Pont  Neuf  cried,  "  No  Mazarin  !  " 

A  new  regulation  was  issued  in  reference  to  the  payment 
of  interest,  and  it  was  one  entirely  proper  and  neces- 
sary ;  but  it  was  used  to  foster  discontents  by  the  enemies 
of  the  government,  some  of  whom  acted  from  ignorance 
and  some  from  malice.  The  payment  of  interest  on  loans 
had  been  made  by  acquits  a  comptant,  and  thus  concealed 
from  any  public  scrutiny.  But  the  declaration  of  October 
had  limited  such  acquits  to  three  millions,  and  it  was  im- 
possible that  the  large  payments  of  interest  should  longer 
be  made  in  this  manner.  Loans  were  necessary  for  the 
government,  and  an  edict  was  published  regulating  them, 
and  authorizing  the  payment  of  interest  at  ten  per  cent. 
The  rate  was  high,  but  the  credit  of  the  government  was 
so  poor  that  it  could  expect  no  better  terms,  and  it  rarely 
obtained  as  good.  The  measure  was  one,  however,  which, 
even  if  required,  could  easily  be  made  odious,  and  it  was 
seized  upon  by  Retz  for  that  purpose.  To  the  coadjutor, 
the  growing  political  complications  furnished  an  opportu- 
nity for  putting  into  practice  the  maxims  of  the  conspiracy 
of  Fiesque,  and  of  posing  as  a  follower  of  Catiline. 

A  personal  disappointment  stimulated  his  love  for  plot- 
ting and  intrigue.  He  had  been  allured  by  the  prospect 
of  being  appointed  governor  of  Paris,  and  he  confesses 
that  the  baton  crossed  by  the  crucifix  had  seemed  to  him 
a  most  agreeable  figure.' 

But  this  hope  had  been  disappointed,  and  he  now 
dreamed  of  becoming  the  ruler  of  Paris  in  insurrection. 

'  Retz,  202.  Mazarin,  in  his  Garnets,  speaks  of  Retz's  intrigues  for  this, 
place.     Also  in  Lettres,  111.,  267. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  5 

An  edict,  which  authorized  the  payment  of  high  rates  of 
interest  on  money  lent  to  the  state,  could  well  be  used  to 
excite  the  passions  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city.  Usury 
was  condemned  by  Holy  Writ,  and  the  profits  of  the  lend- 
ers to  the  government  were  odious  to  the  people.  Retz 
sought  the  opinion  of  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne  upon 
this  matter,  and  they  decided  that  to  loan  money  at  ten 
per  cent.,  or  any  other  rate,  was  usury,  a  mortal  sin,  and  a 
thing  which  could  not  be  authorized,  even  by  the  consent 
of  the  Parliament.' 

Thereupon  Retz  instructed  his  cur^s  and  canons  to  de- 
nounce from  their  pulpits  an  edict  which  sought  openly  to 
authorize  what  was  condemned  by  the  law  of  God,  and  to 
lift  up  their  voices  against  this  legalization  of  usury. 
Parishioners  heard  from  their  priests  the  condemnation  of 
this  defiance  of  religion,  which  all  knew  had  been  devised 
by  the  greedy  and  impious  Mazarin.  In  eight  days  Retz 
boasted  that  he  caused  the  cardinal  to  be  regarded  as  the 
worst  Shylock  there  was  in  Europe."  The  offending  edict 
was  withdrawn,  but  the  regent  and  her  ministers  resolved 
to  check  these  constant  encroachments  upon  their 
authority. 

Some  advocated  using  the  Arsenal  and  Bastille  as  cen- 
tres of  military  operations,  and  coercing  the  Parliament 
into  obedience.'  But  Mazarin  favored  rather  retiring 
again  from  the  city,  and  by  cutting  off  its  supplies,  starv- 
ing it  into  discontent  with  the  Parliament  and  into  sub- 
mission to  the  king.  The  preparations  for  leaving  Paris 
were  made  with  great  secrecy.*  The  queen  was  always  an 
adept  at  deceit,  and  on  the  evening  of  January  5,  1649, 

'  Journal  de  Debuisson-Aubenay  Mss.,  December  30,  1648. 

•  Retz,  225.  It  is  unnecessary  to  remark  that  Retz  says  "Jew,"  not  Shy- 
lock.  To  him,  as  to  almost  every  Frenchman  of  that  time,  the  works,  and 
probably  the  name,  of  Shakespeare  were  unknown.  See  also  Camets, 
xi.,  17.  *  AfT.  Etr.  France  123,  124. 

*  But  the  Venetian  minister,  writing  January  5th,  says  that  Mazarin  was  of 
the  opinion  it  was  best  for  the  Court  to  leave  Paris  and  mortify  both  the 
people  and  the  Parliament,  cviii.,  174.  He  says  that  Mazarin  proposed  retir- 
ing on  account  of  the  hostility  felt  to  him,  but  the  queen  said  this  would 
be  most  injurious  to  the  interests  of  her  son, — 178. 


6  FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

she  jested  with  her  ladies-in-waiting,  and  seemed  free  fronr 
care,  and  in  exceptionally  good  spirits.  She  watched  the 
young  king  playing,  joined  in  some  sports  with  her  attend- 
ants, and  said  she  must  pass  the  next  day  in  devotions  at 
Val  de  Grace.  A  little  after  midnight  she  retired,  but 
she  shortly  arose  and  prepared  for  flight.  At  three, 
Louis  and  his  brother  were  taken  from  their  beds,  and,, 
with  a  few  attendants,  they  all  went  down  the  back  stair- 
case from  the  queen's  apartments  into  the  garden ;  there 
carriages  were  waiting,  and  they  were  immediately  driven 
away.  At  the  rendezvous  they  were  joined  by  Orleans, 
Cond6  and  Mazarin,  and  a  few  to  whom  the  secret  had 
been  entrusted.  Anne  preferred  a  vigorous  policy  against 
the  upstarts  of  the  Parliament,  instead  of  the  concessions 
to  which  her  ministers  had  forced  her  to  agree,  and  now 
that  resort  was  to  be  had  to  force,  she  was  as  gay  as  if  she 
had  won  a  battle,  captured  Paris,  and  hung  all  those  who^ 
displeased  her.' 

They  all  drove  to  St.  Germain.  This  was  a  summer 
palace,  and  in  winter  it  was  stripped  of  its  furniture  and 
conveniences.  The  secrecy  of  the  plans  had  not  allowed 
any  preparation  to  make  it  habitable.  There  were  na 
beds,  no  linen,  and  no  silver.  The  queen  slept  on  a  couch 
that  Mazarin  had  sent.  The  most  of  the  company  were 
glad  to  find  even  straw  to  rest  upon,  and  the  demand  for 
it  was  such  that  it  furnished  a  profitable  speculation  for 
the  few  who  had  any  to  sell.  Mademoiselle  of  Orleans 
tells  us  that  she  slept  in  a  chamber  richly  painted  and 
decorated,  but  with  windows  without  glass,  which  she 
found  unpleasant  in  January." 

There  was  universal  consternation  in  the  city  on  the 
morning  of  the  6th,  when  the  news  spread  that  the  king, 
the  regent,  and  the  chief  officers  of  the  state  had  fled  from 
Paris.  Such  a  movement,  it  was  said,  would  be  the  prelude 
of  troubles  far  mors  serious  than  the  barricades  of  the  past 
summer.     There  had  been  complaints  for  some  time  that 

'  Montpensier,  50.  Journal  du  Parlement,  January  6.  1649.  Dis.  Ven., 
cviii.,  182.  'Montpensier,  51.     Motteville,  230-232. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE  / 

the  troops  were  gathering  about  Paris,  and  it  had  been 
feared  that  some  hostile  measure  was  contemplated.  This 
had  now  become  only  too  plain.  The  city  was  to  be  starved 
into  subjection,  the  Parliament  was  to  be  humbled,  and  the 
odious  rule  of  Mazarin  was  to  be  permanently  established. 

The  prospect  was  alarming,  and  it  seemed  the  more  so 
because  this  flight  had  been  so  sudden  and  unexpected. 
A  population  estimated  at  900,000  had  to  be  fed  ;  troops 
must  be  raised  for  defence  and  to  keep  open  the  roads  for 
supplies,  and  the  organization  and  control  of  a  great  city 
in  a  state  of  siege  was  suddenly  thrown  upon  the  Parlia- 
ment and  the  Hotel  de  Ville.' 

The  retreat  to  St.  Germain  was  at  once  followed  by  en- 
deavors to  alienate  Paris  from  the  Parliament.  This  had 
been  the  hope  of  the  regent  and  the  plan  of  the  cardinal. 
A  proclamation  was  sent  to  tbe  authorities  at  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  declaring  that  the  perfidious  designs  of  some 
members  of  the  Parliament,  who  were  in  relations  with  the 
enemies  of  the  state  and  had  even  plotted  to  seize  the 
royal  person,  had  forced  the  king  to  leave  Paris,  but  from 
the  bourgeois  and  citizens  of  the  town  he  hoped  con- 
tinued affection  and  good  service.*  On  the  7th,  a  mes- 
sage was  brought  to  the  Parliament  by  a  lieutenant  of 
the  guards,  commanding  it  to  retire  to  Montargis  and 
there  hold  its  further  sessions.  The  officers  of  the  city 
were  informed  that  so  soon  as  the  rebellious  Parliament 
had  obeyed  her  orders,  the  queen  would  return  to  Paris, 
provisions  would  be  abundant,  and  commerce  be  reestab- 
lished. If  the  Parliament  went  out  of  one  gate,  the  king 
would  come  in  by  the  other.' 

In  the  meantime,  those  members  of  the  Parliament 
who  refused  obedience  were  declared  guilty  of  high 
treason,  and  orders  were  issued  forbidding  the  country 
people  to  sell  their  cattle  to  the  Paris  butchers.*     It  was 

'  Journal  d'  Ormesson,  i.,  610.  Ormesson  gives  these  figures.  The 
actual  population  of  the  city  was  much  less  than  900,000. 

*  Reg.  de  1'  Hotel  de  Ville,  62-4.  Motteville,  233.  Mole,  iii.,313.  Let- 
tresde  Mazarin,  iii.,  249-251.  '  Reg.  Hotel  de  Ville  i.,  70-82. 

*  Reg.  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  vol.  i.,  89,  91.     Talon,  320. 


8  FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

hard,  Mazarin  wrote,  thus  to  be  obliged  to  employ  the 
arms  of  France  against  Frenchmen,  and  to  risk  losing  the 
advantages  of  a  long  war  in  which  that  kingdom  had  re- 
gained its  ancient  boundaries  on  the  Rhine,  and  was  on  the 
eve  of  an  advantageous  peace  with  Spain.' 

But  the  spirit  of  resistance  was  strong,  and  the  city- 
authorities  and  the  members  of  the  courts  were  ready  to 
unite  in  the  common  defence.  Such  a  feeling  was 
fostered  by  a  few  discontented  nobles,  who  saw  in  this 
commotion  an  opportunity  for  gaining  for  themselves 
positions  or  governments.  The  lower  classes  of  the  city 
were  always  ready  for  any  popular  ferment,  and  among 
them  agitation  was  easily  excited,  either  by  praise  of  the 
magistrates  who  were  attacked  in  their  efforts  for  the 
public  good,  or  by  abuse  of  Mazarin,  who  was  prosecuting 
his  plans  for  the  public  injury. 

The  Fronde  had  thus  reached  the  stage  of  open  war.  The 
government  was  resolved  to  crush  the  opposition  of  the 
Parliament,  and  to  coerce  the  city  of  Paris,  if  it  con- 
tinued in  sympathy  with  the  Parliament.  The  resistance 
to  the  regent,  on  the  other  hand,  was  based  upon  the  en- 
deavor of  the  courts  to  exercise  a  control  which  the  public 
believed  would  be  for  the  general  welfare.  The  financial 
disorders  and  the  burdens  of  taxation  had  affected  the 
bourgeois  and  even  the  artisans  of  Paris,  and  in  most  of 
the  provinces  there  was  widespread  misery.  The  efforts 
of  the  judges  were,  therefore,  supported  by  the  hopes 
and  the  sympathy  of  a  large  element  of  the  population. 
Burdensome  taxation  and  general  distress  were  found  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Fronde  as  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Revolution,  but  in  less  degree  and  in  a  different  condition 
of  public  feeling.  One  hundred  and  fifty  years  later, 
misery  had  increased  and  loyalty  had  diminished ;  the 
burden  was  greater,  the  love  for  the  king  was  less. 

Even  an  injudicious  endeavor  to  change  a  system  of  gov- 
ernment much  in  need  of  amendment,  gave  a  certain  dignity 
to  the  early  phases  of  the  Fronde.      The  movement  was 

'  Lettres,  iii.,  251,  Jan'y  15,  1649. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  9 

soon  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Cond^s,  the  Retzes,  and 
the  Bouillons,  and  to  become  only  a  mercenary  burlesque 
on  the  former  struggles  of  the  great  nobles  for  local  inde- 
pendence. Nothing  but  the  picturesqueness  of  the  actors 
then  relieves  the  insignificance  of  the  action. 

The  Parliament  and  the  city  officers  met  the  royal 
proclamation  with  energy.  On  the  pretext  that  it  was 
not  sent  by  the  proper  channel,  the  Parliament  declined 
to  receive  the  edict  which  ordered  it  to  retire  to  Montar- 
gis.  It  answered  the  king's  justification  of  his  retreat  by 
desiring  the  names  of  any  of  its  members  who  had  plotted 
against  the  royal  safety,  that  if  found  guilty  they  might 
be  punished,  while  if  innocent,  those  who  accused  them 
might  be  condemned  as  calumniators.' 

After  a  tumultuous  debate  it  was  voted  that  the  Cardi- 
nal Mazarin,  as  the  author  of  all  these  disturbances,  should 
be  asked  to  leave  the  Court  within  twenty-four  hours,  and 
France  within  eight  days,  and  that  troops  should  be 
raised  in  sufficient  numbers  to  provide  for  the  food 
and  safety  of  Paris.' 

An  army  of  about  12,000  men  was  organized.'  The  in- 
defatigable coadjutor  furnished  a  regiment  of  cavalry  at 
his  own  expense,  which,  from  his  titular  archbishopric  of 
Corinth,  was  dubbed  the  regiment  of  Corinthians.  The 
warlike  prelate  did  not  escape  ridicule,  and  when,  at  its 
first  encounter,  the  regiment  suffered  defeat,  the  combat 
was  called  the  first  of  Corinthians. 

A  war  tax  was  voted  twice  as  large  as  had  been  imposed 
during  the  panic  in  1636,  when  the  Spaniards  were  at 
Corbie.  One  million  livres  were  to  be  furnished  by  the 
different  sections  of  Parliament.  The  counsellors  created 
by  Richelieu  had  been  practically  ostracized  by  the  body, 
and  their  offices  rendered  of  little  value.       No  suits  were 

'  Onnesson,  i.,  605. 

'  Ormesson,  612.     Journal  du  Parlement,  113-118. 

'  Ten  sous  a  day  was  to  be  paid  to  foot-soldiers  and  forty  sous  a  day  to 
horsemen,  payment  to  be  mnde  every  Saturday.  Journal  d'  Aubenay, 
January  II,  1649.  Journal  du  Parlement.  126.  The  wages  were  above 
those  usually  paid,  but  the  price  of  provisions  was  high. 


lO        FRANCE  UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

given  them  for  examination,  their  opinions  were  hardly 
asked  at  pubHc  audiences,  and  the  places  for  which  they 
had  paid  largely  could  only  be  sold  at  a  great  sacrifice. 
They  now  offered  to  pay  3CX),ooo  livres  for  the  cause, 
and  at  this  cost  they  received  full  recognition  and  their 
legitimate  opportunities  for  earning  legal  fees  in  the 
future.' 

A  general  was  needed  for  the  troops  now  to  be  raised, 
but  of  willing  generals  there  was  no  lack.  There  was 
rather  a  race  to  see  who  could  first  profess  his  zeal  for  the 
cause  of  the  people.  The  Duke  of  Elboeuf  was  one  of 
the  adventurous  House  of  Lorraine,  and  the  kinsman  of 
the  Duke  of  Guise,  who  had  lately  headed  the  revolution 
at  Naples.  Elboeuf  was  ambitious  and  poor,  and  he  now 
saw  his  opportunity  ;  he  professed  his  regret  that  he  had 
not  more  blood  in  his  body  that  he  might  spill  the  last 
drop  of  it,  serving  the  Parliament  for  the  good  of  the  state.' 

He  was  received  with  applause  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
and  proclaimed  general-in-chief.  Although  the  Parlia- 
ment complained  that  a  general  had  been  selected  without 
first  consulting  it  as  the  chief  body  in  the  state,  it  rati- 
fied this  choice.' 

But  Retz  had  secured  still  more  dignified  allies,  and  El- 
bcEuf  soon  lost  his  precedence.  Condi's  younger  brother, 
the  Prince  of  Conti,  had  long  fluctuated  between  the  church 
and  the  army.  During  the  last  autumn  it  had  been  decided 
in  the  family  councils  that  the  family  interests  would  be 
most  advanced  by  his  espousal  of  religion.  Accordingly 
the  nomination  of  the  Abb6  de  la  Riviere  for  the  cardin- 
alate  had  been  revoked,  and  the  name  of  Conti  substi- 
tuted.*     Both    Riviere    and'    his    master,    Orleans,   were 

*  Talon,  321.     Ormesson,  614.     Journal  du  Parlement,  118.     . 

'  Ormesson,  619.  *  Reg.  Hotel  de  Ville,  i.,  103-111. 

*  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  10,  811.  The  minister  was  instructed,  however, 
to  obtain  Conti's  nomination  as  extraordinary,  and  to  preserve  the  ordinary 
nomination  for  Riviere.  The  Venetian  ambassador  said  this  would  not  do 
the  Abbe  much  good,  as  the  Pope  would  not  be  apt  to  appoint  two  cardinals 
from  a  nation  that  was  not  especially  friendly. — Dis.  Ven.,  cviii.,  I20,  12I. 
The  Pope  did  not  appoint  either  of  them. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  II 

greatly  incensed  by  this  blow  to  the  Abba's  ambition,  but  it 
was  useless  to  contend  with  the  advantages  Conti  derived 
from  his  superior  rank.  The  prince  was,  however,  only  a 
weak  boy,  and  he  was  turned  from  his  plans  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal ambition  by  his  only  strong  passion,  his  love  for  his 
sister,  Mme.  de  Longueville.'  This  passionate  affection, 
seemed  to  exceed  the  love  of  brother  for  sister." 

It  gave  to  Mme.  de  Longueville  the  absolute  control 
over  a  prince  whose  rank  made  him  important,  and  this 
control  she  now  began  to  exercise.  She  had  quarrelled 
with  Cond6,  and  she  was  drawn  to  plans  of  ambition  by 
her  love  for  Rochefoucauld,  who  had  become  the  confessed 
master  of  her  fate.  Nothing  in  the  maxims  of  the  great 
satirist  is  more  cynical  than  his  description  of  the  begin- 
ning of  this  intrigue.  Mme.  de  Longueville,  in  1646,  was 
not  only  the  most  beautiful  woman  in  France,  but  she 
then  possessed  a  great  influence  over  Cond^.  Many  had 
sighed  for  her,  but  in  vain,  and  the  present  suitor  was 
Caesar  Phoebus,  Count  of  Miossens.  "  I  had  reason  to 
believe,"  says  Rochefoucauld,  "  that  I  could  make  more  use 
of  the  friendship  and  confidence  of  Mme.  de  Longueville. 
Miossens  agreed  to  this.  He  knew  my  relations  at  Court,, 
and  I  told  him  my  views."  Miossens  yielded  the  place 
he  had  not  won,  and  Rochefoucauld,  who  was  then  called 
the  Prince  of  Marcillac,  and  in  whom  the  fire  of  youth  con- 
cealed the  cynicism  of  the  satirist,  soon  gained  the  com- 
plete devotion  of  his  lady-love.*  "  In  all  she  has  done 
since,"  writes  a  lady  of  the  Court,  "  one  could  plainly  see 
that  it  was  not  ambition  alone  that  filled  her  soul,  but 
that  the  interests  of  the  Prince  of  Marcillac  there  held  a 
great  place.  For  him  she  became  ambitious  ;  for  him  she 
ceased  to  love  repose,  and,  absorbed  by  her  affection,  she 
forgot  her  own  good  name."  * 

Three  years  had  passed,  and  had  only  strengthened  this 
affection.  Mme.  de  Longueville's  relations  with  her  hus- 
band were  still  those  of  nominal  amity,  either  because  he 

'  Retz,  i.,  218-219.     Mole,  iii.,  327.  *  Rochefoucauld,  94-96. 

•  Retz,  219.  *  Mottcville,  120. 


12         FRANCE  UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

-was  not  fully  informed  of  her  conduct,  or  because  his  own 
adventures  forbade  his  being  argus-eyed.  Both  Roche- 
foucauld and  Longueville  were  discontented  with  the 
regent  and  with  Mazarin.  Mme.  de  Longueville  was 
ready  to  accompany  her  lover  in  civil  war,  or  to  the  field 
of  battle,  and  Conti  was  happy  to  go  where  his  sister  led. 
On  January  loth,  Conti  and  Longueville  presented  them- 
selves at  the  gate  of  St.  Honor^,  to  join  the  popular 
cause.  Their  relations  with  Cond^  made  the  people  dis- 
trust these  would-be  allies,  and  not  until  Retz  and  Brous- 
sel  gave 'assurance  of  their  fidelity,  were  they  allowed  to 
enter  and  proceed  to  the  Parliament.' 

ElbcEuf  said  he  would  surrender  only  with  his  life  the 
command-in-chief,  which  he  had  obtained  by  his  greater 
celerity.  But  he  was  driven  to  yield,  and  on  the  nth  of 
January,  the  Prince  of  Conti,  a  youth  in  years,  deformed 
in  body,  and  feeble  in  mind,  was  proclaimed  generalissimo 
of  the  armies  of  the  king,  under  the  orders  of  the  Parlia- 
ment, with  Elbceuf,  Bouillon,  and  De  la  Mothe  Houdan- 
court  as  generals  under  him." 

Bouillon  brought  to  the  cause  the  hereditary  ability  of 
the  house  of  De  la  Tour,  sharpened  by  years  of  resent- 
ment that  Sedan,  torn  from  him  by  Richelieu,  had  never 
been  restored.  Though  crippled  by  disease,  he  was  still 
the  ablest  of  the  noble  auxiliaries.  It  was  hoped,  also, 
that  his  influence  would  secure  for  the  cause  his  brother 
Turenne,  who  had  under  his  command  a  victorious  and 
devoted  army." 

Houdancourt  had  been  disgraced  and  imprisoned  for 
his  ill  success  in  Catalonia,  and  possessed  an  ill-founded 
popularity  as  a  victim  of  Mazarin.  He  was  a  man  below 
mediocrity,  who  combined  incapacity  with  sullenness. 

On  the  same  day  the  new  auxiliaries  gave  valuable 
hostages  for  their  fidelity.  Mme  de  Longueville  and  her 
step-daughter  drove  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  entered  the 

'  Journal  du  Parlement,  1 19. 

'  Ormesson,  620-5,     Journal  du  Parlement,  115-124.     Dis.  Ven.,  182-8. 
Retz,  i.,  240-50.     Talon,  321,  322.     Mole,  iii.,  328-335. 
'  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  266. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  !  3. 

grand  hall.  The  Duke  of  Longueville  told  the  aldermen 
and  the  provost  that,  having  no  dearer  pledges,  he  had 
brought  these  to  answer  for  his  fidelity,  and  they  prayed 
for  shelter.  The  city  fathers,  not  undisturbed  at  the 
prospect  of  such  guests,  answered  that  they  doubted  not 
the  good-will  of  M.  de  Longueville,  but  the  Hotel  de  Ville 
furnished  scanty  quarters  for  persons  of  their  quality. ' 
There,  however,  they  were  lodged,  and  Mme.  de  Longue- 
ville took  an  active  part  in  the  consultations  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Fronde.  Her  son,  whom  the  evil-minded  declared 
of  uncertain  parentage,  was  born  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
held  at  the  font  by  the  officers  of  the  city,  and  baptized 
Charles  Paris.  This  child  of  the  Fronde  had  hardly  at- 
tained manhood  when  he  fell  in  his  country's  battles  by 
the  shores  of  the  Rhine,  and  caused  tears  which  litera- 
ture has  made  immortal.  Even  childbirth  hardly  inter- 
rupted the  political  zeal  of  one  who  had  heretofore  been  as 
well  known  for  her  gentle  languor,  as  for  her  unequalled 
beauty.  Mme.  de  Bouillon  also  assisted  at  these  counsels, 
and  the  two  ladies,  each  beautiful  and  each  bearing  an 
infant  in  her  arms,  drove  through  the  Gr^ve,  so  crowded 
that  the  very  roofs  were  covered  with  people,  the  men 
shouting  their  ajiplause  at  beauty  combined  with  patriot- 
ism and  courage,  while  the  women  wept  for  tenderness. 

The  Hotel  de  Ville  presented  a  mixture  of  cuirasses  and 
ladies'  scarfs,  violins  and  trumpets,  such  as  were  more 
often  seen  in  romances  than  in  real  life." 

The  Duke  of  Longueville  retired  into  Normandy,  and 
through  his  influence  the  Parliament  of  that  great  prov- 
ince resolved  upon  union  with  the  Fronde  of  Paris.  The 
initiative  of  Paris  was  followed  in  many  of  the  provinces. 
Local  troubles  and  the  creation  of  new  judges  and  semes- 
tres  were  the  matters  complained  of  by  the  various  courts. 
The  Parliament  of  Provence  declared  its  union.  Rheims, 
Poitiers,  and  other  places,  led  either  by  the  local  authori- 

•  Reg.  d'Hotel  de  Ville,  i.,  115. 

*  Retz,  i. ,  249.  Leitres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  266-8.  Lettres  de  Patin,  412. 
Journal  du  Parlement,  154-6. 


14        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

ties  or  the  neighboring  noblemen,  took  up  arms  in  behalf 
of  the  Fronde.  The  Parliaments  of  Toulouse  and  Bor- 
deaux were  preparing  to  join  the  cause.  '  It  was  hoped 
to  gain  Orleans  and  some  planned  to  take  the  regency 
from  Anne  and  choose  Gaston  in  her  place."  Such  a  meas- 
ure would  have  been  revolutionary,  and  it  was  too  violent 
a  step  to  be  attempted  by  the  Parliament. 

Hostilities  were  confined  to  Paris,  nor  even  there  were 
they  prosecuted  with  much  vigor.  The  regent  had  been 
disappointed  in  her  hopes  of  terrifying  the  city  into  sub- 
jection, and  she  now  proceeded  with  her  plans  to  cut  off 
its  supplies.  It  was  believed  that  the  mechanic  with  no 
bread,  or  the  shopkeeper  with  a  scanty  dinner  of  stale 
vegetables,  would  soon  weary  of  the  rule  of  legal  pedants, 
and  would  tell  the  judges  to  go  about  their  law  cases  and 
allow  plenty  and  quiet  again  to  reign.  The  people  would 
come  to  ask  pardon  with  the  halter  around  their  necks, 
when  for  three  days,  they  found  no  bread  of  Gonesse  at 
the  market.'  The  government  resolved  on  the  step  of 
summoning  the  States-General  to  meet  at  Orleans  on 
March  15th.  It  was  thought  a  good  device  to  prevent 
harm  resulting  from  the  present  disturbances.*  But 
neither  party  desired  a  meeting  of  the  States  and  the 
session  was  not  held. 

Occasional  skirmishes  took  place  between  the  forces 
commanded  by  Orleans  and  Cond^  and  the  troops  raised 
by  the  Fronde.  None,  however,  were  of  much  import- 
ance.    Though  the  advantage  of  arms  was  rather   with 

'  Ormesson,  i.,  645.  Reg.  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  i.,  344,  377,  385,399. 
Journal  du  Parlement,  129,  137,  163,  etc.  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  278,  284, 
etc.,  upon  the  events  in  Normandy. 

*  Dis.  Ven.,  cviii.,  i88. 

'  Ormesson,  653.  Retz,  i.,  270.  Brienne  says  Tellier  allowed  six  months 
to  starve  Paris  into  subjection.  Mem.  de  Brienne,  105,  106.  Gonesse  was 
a  town  near  Paris  where  the  best  bread  was  made. 

*  Brienne  to  Fontenay,  Jan.  15,  1649.  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  26S. 
Dis.  Ven.,  cviii.,  188.  Mazarin,  in  his  letter,  says  the  States  were  to  be 
called  to  meet  at  Rouen,  but  this  is  a  mistake.  The  royal  proclamation 
shows  they  were  called  for  Orleans.  Following  Mazarin's  letter,  M. 
Cheruel  says  they  were  to  be  held  at  Rouen. — t.  iii.,  158. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  1 5 

the  Cardinalists,  as  the  Frondeurs  called  their  adversaries, 
supplies  reached  Paris  in  tolerable  abundance.  The 
forces  of  the  regent  were  not  sufficient  to  reduce  the  city  to 
a  condition  of  actual  siege,  and  while  supplies  from  some 
quarters  were  cut  off,  from  other  directions  they  arrived 
with  but  little  interruption.  Wheat  sold  at  a  dollar  and  a 
quarter  a  bushel.  The  bread  furnished  the  soldiers  was  re- 
quired to  be  between  white  and  black,  composed  of  two 
thirds  of  wheat  and  one  third  of  rye,  and  its  price  was  not 
immoderate.' 

In  the  early  part  of  February  the  condition  of  Paris  was 
said  to  be  admirable.  Bread  was  good  ;  though  its  price 
was  variable  and  at  times  high,  there  was  no  distur- 
bance ;  the  workmen  were  at  their  tasks,  and  every  one 
was  attending  to  his  own  affairs.  There  were  no  marks 
of  a  siege  except  at  the  churches,  where  every  one  prayed 
God  very  devoutly.'  An  unprecedented  overflow  of  the 
Seine  excited  the  city  without  doing  serious  harm.  One 
could  go  in  the  Rue  St.  Antoine  only  by  boat,  and  the 
waters  covered  the  island  and  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain. 
There  had  not  been  such  an  overflow  since  1576.' 

Tranquility  was  not,  however,  so  complete  that  the  Parlia- 
ment found  no  embarrassment  in  its  role  of  a  legislative  and 
executive  body.  E>^ery  morning,  not  excepting  fete  days 
and  Sundays  all  the  chambers  assembled,  and,  with  the 
princes  and  generals,  discussed  public  affairs.  Two  or  three 
times  a  week  they  met  to  superintend  the  distribution  of 
bread  on  market  days.  Some  of  the  judges  were  charged 
with  preventing  disorder  and  restraining  the  populace,  and 

'  Reg.  d'Hotel  de  Ville,  i.,  192.  Journal  d'Aubenay,  Jan.  13th.  Or- 
messon,  631.     Lenet,  519.     Letlres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  280-2,  Jan.  28lh. 

'  Ormesson,  i.,  647.  Lettres  de  Patin,  403-411.  Journal  du  Parlement, 
passim.  Mole,  however,  says  that  labor  ceased  among  the  artisans  and 
traffic  and  commerce  among  the  merchants.  Memoires.  iii.,  320.  But  to  a 
man  reverencing  the  ordinary  routine  of  government  and  inclined  to  friend- 
ship with  the  regency,  any  interruption  of  legal  forms  seemed  a  lamentable 
revolution.  With  equal  tenacity  for  legal  forms,  the  Parliament,  Retz  said,  in- 
sisted on  technical  defects  in  the  performance  of  the  edict  of  October, 
in  the  same  manner  as  if  they  were  irregularities  in  a  foreclosure. 

*  Ormesson,  i.,  631.     Journal  d'Aubenay.     Les  Inondations  de  France. 


1 6         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

in  this  they  were  assisted  by  the  city  magistrates  and  the 
bourgeois.'  The  Bastille  had  been  captured  at  once.  It 
made,  indeed,  but  a  formal  resistance.  A  few  rounds 
were  discharged  at  it  from  three  pieces  of  cannon.  The 
women  carried  their  chairs  into  the  garden  of  the  arsenal, 
knit  their  stockings,  and  watched  the  bombardment." 
Its  governor  surrendered  the  keys,  and  Broussel  was  ap- 
pointed in  his  place.' 

Beaufort  appeared  in  Paris  and  demanded  a  vindication 
from  the  charges  that  had  so  long  hung  over  him.  He 
rode  through  the  streets  of  the  city,  beautiful  in  his  aure- 
ole of  golden  hair,  and  accompanied  by  the  coadjutor 
sounding  his  praises.  Men  cheered  him  and  women 
kissed  him.  Parliament  at  once  considered  his  case,  and 
declared  him  triumphantly  acquitted,  with  leave  to  pro- 
ceed for  damages  against  his  accusers.* 

The  torrent  of  pasquinades  was  more  abundant  than 
ever,  and  even  the  Parliament  endeavored  to  put  some 
check  upon  them.  The  regent  suffered  as  well  as  Maza- 
rin,  and  broad  hints  were  thrown  out  as  to  the  relations 
of  the  cardinal  with  Madame  Anne,  as  the  queen  was  nick- 
named by  the  common  people.  No  terms  of  vituperation 
were  spared  in  the  assaults  upon  the  cardinal.  He  was 
the  person  whom  all  the  world  knew  to  be  the  disturber 
of  public  repose  ;  the  enemy  and  ruin  of  all  France  ;  one 
million  souls  had  perished  in  the  disorders  and  wars  he 
had  kindled  in  Europe.  And  who  was  the  man  who  had 
done  this  untold  evil?  His  arms  were  hatchets  and  a 
bundle  of  rods,  but  they  were  not  those  of  the  Roman 
senators,  but  the  hatchets  with  which  his  grandfather 
chopped  wood  and  the  whips  with  which  his  father  whip- 
ped the  horses. 

Sprung  from  the  dregs  of  the  people,  a  subject  of 
Spain,  within  six  years  he  had  mounted  on  the  shoulders 

'  Talon,  32S  ,  Mole,  iii.,  320. 

'  Retz,  i.,  266.     Journal  d'Aubenay,  January  13th. 

*  Journal  du  Parlement,  126. 

*  Journal  du  Parlement,  126-8.  Retz,  i.,  267.  Talon,  322.  Lettres  de 
Patin,  415. 


THE   PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  if 

of  the  king  of  France.  Stealing  untold  millions,  he  had 
wasted  them  in  unheard-of  sensuality.  He  had  spent 
three  years  in  concocting  pomades  to  whiten  his  hands ; 
he  had  invented  a  new  drink  of  which  the  cost  was  be- 
yond conception ;  his  name  was  perpetuated,  not  by 
admiring  cities  named  after  him,  but  by  pasties  and 
ragouts.  Since  he  had  been  minister,  ballets,  comedies, 
and  buffoons  so  filled  the  palace  that  it  seemed  as  if  the 
whole  state  had  been  bitten  by  a  tarantula.' 

The  leaders  and  warriors  of  the  Fronde  did  not  escape 
ridicule.  Pasquinades  represented  Captain  Picard  com- 
posing a  company  himself,  with  no  soldiers  ;  Beaufort 
covered  with  a  cock's  feathers  ;  the  bourgeois  Monsieur 
"  Somebody,"  with  immense  ears,  posing  at  his  counter  as 
a  statesman.  In  one  of  them  the  colonel  .says,  we  have 
ordered  all  our  soldiers  to  carry  boot-tops,  lest  the  brooks 
formed  by  the  blood  of  those  we  shall  -slay  should  flow 
over  the  tops  of  their  shoes. 

On  the  2 1st  of  January  the  Parliament  adopted,  for 
submission  to  the  king,  a  labored  justification  of  its  action. 
It  consisted  chiefly  of  a  long  attack  upon  the  cardinal, 
which,  in  virulence,  was  hardly  exceeded  by  the  most  bit- 
ter Mazarinade.  Two  notable  examples,  it  said,  the  Mar- 
shal Ancre  and  the  Cardinal  Richelieu,  had  shown  how 
the  elevation  of  a  subject  had  made  him  formidable  to  the 
king,  and  intolerable  to  the  people.  But  the  queen,  like 
many  of  the  good,  having  too  little  mistrust  of  the  wicked, 
had  allowed  Mazarin  to  succeed  to  Richelieu's  plans  and 
designs.  He  conferred  all  favors,  ordered  all  punish- 
ments, and  bestowed  all  offices.  He  left  to  the  regent 
none  of  the  gratitude  of  the  fortunate,  but  only  the  ill- 
will  of  the  disappointed.  Under  him  the  true  interests  of 
the  State  had  been  abandoned  ;  peace  had  been  delayed, 
the  finances  exhausted,  and  the  people  ruined.  Who 
could  not  see  that  he  had  prevented  peace  in  order  to 
render  himself  more  necessary,  and  to  raise  greater  sums 

'  Choix  des  Mazarinades,  vol.  i.,  94,  95,  99,  156,  and  see  the  vast  number 
of  similar  pamphlets  at  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale. 


l8         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

for  his  own  enrichment  ?  Such  a  man  was  the  Cardinal 
Mazarin,  who  had  so  pillaged  the  kingdom  that  there  were 
few  persons  in  it  to  whom  a  bed  was  left  ;  fewer  who  had 
bread  to  eat,  and  none  at  all  who  could  live  without 
scrimping  and  discomfort.  He  hated  the  Parliament  be- 
cause it  sought  to  relieve  the  misery  of  the  subjects  and 
to  improve  the  revenues  of  the  king,  and  he  had  resolved 
to  involve  Paris  and  the  Parliament  inV)ne  common  ruin. 
They  had  taken  up  arms,  not  for  their  own  safety,  but  for 
the  protection  of  the  king  and  of  the  kingdom ;  a  thing 
which  should  therefore  be  regarded,  not  as  an  act  of  re- 
bellion, but  as  a  performance  of  duty.' 

Such  accusations  were  undoubtedly  believed  by  many 
of  the  Parliament  and  by  most  of  the  populace ;  but  while 
the  nation  had  suffered  some  evil  from  Mazarin's  errors, 
and  from  the  disorders  which  his  financial  incapacity  had 
allowed  to  increase,  there  was  little  justification  for  such 
sweeping  abuse.  He  justly  claimed  that  he  had  rendered 
great  service  to  the  state.  Even  if  he  was  not  justified 
in  his  assertion  that  he  had  taken  nothing  for  himself  or 
his  relatives,  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  felt  his  conduct 
had  been  disinterested.  In  his  private  notes  he  said  that 
he  would  gladly  account  for  all  his  transactions  with  the 
state,  and  they  would  show  a  disinterestedness  that  was 
without  example.' 

Even  though  fair  order  was  preserved  in  Paris,  the  strain 
of  war  was  felt.  On  the  8th  of  February  the  army  of  the 
city  suffered  a  defeat  at  Charenton,  and  that  place  was 
captured  by  Cond^.  The  engagement  was  unimportant, 
but  Charenton  was  one  of  the  few  remaining  places  of 
supply.*  The  citizens  gathered  near  the  Port  St.  An- 
toine,  discussing  with  amazement  the  news  brought  by  the 
returning  troops,  and  accusing  Elbceuf  and  the  other  gen- 
erals   of  treachery.      Large  bodies  of  the  bourgeois  pa- 

'  Talon,  322-328  ;  Journal  du  Parlement,  138-146. 

*  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  277,  January  22d.     Camet,  x.,  95. 

*  Mazarin  recognized  the  importance  of  this  place.  In  Garnet,  xi.,  69,  he 
writes  :  ' '  Prendre  sans  delai  Charenton  et  la  garder  y  etablissant  un  quar- 
tier,"  etc. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  IQ 

trolled  the  streets,  and  the  coadjutor  pleased  himself  and 
displeased  many  of  his  parishioners,  by  riding  through 
them  with  a  gray  habit  over  his  gown,  and  a  brace  of  pis- 
tols at  his  belt.' 

Elboeuf  complained  that  his  troops  were  so  poorly  paid 
that  few  were  ready  for  service,  but  it  was  replied  that 
the  troops  on  the  rolls  were  all  paid,  and  if  they  did  not 
receive  their  money  it  was  from  the  frauds  of  the  captains, 
who  reported  and  received  pay  for  fifty  men  when  they 
had  not  over  a  dozen  under  their  command.  The  faint- 
hearted said  after  this  reverse  that  it  was  better  to  think 
of  making  terms  now  than  to  wait  until  they  were  re- 
duced to  extremities,  and  discontent  in  the  city  began  to 
show  itself.'  But  Charenton  was  not  held  by  the  king's 
troops,  and  the  roads  remained  open  for  supplies.' 

There  was  trouble,  however,  in  raising  money.  On  the 
tenth  of  February  the  Parliament  passed  a  resolution 
imposing  taxes  to  be  paid  monthly  by  the  bourgeois  for 
the  support  of  the  army.  Many  protested  against  this 
edict.  The  tax  on  some  persons  of  considerable  means 
amounted  to  one  or  two  thousand  livres.  It  was  said 
that  every  one  would  let  his  furniture  be  sold  rather  than 
pay  such  impositions,  and  the  Parliament  would  not  dare 
to  order  forced  sales  for  the  collection  of  taxes,  lest  it 
should  run  the  hazard  of  exciting  pillage.* 

To  supply  these  financial  deficits,  resort  was  had  to 
confiscation.  Money  or  property  belonging  to  Mazarin 
or  his  partisans  was  confiscated,  and  the  rewards  offered 
to  spies  led  to  a  constant  supply  of  informations.  Private 
houses,  even  churches  and  graveyards,  were  searched.* 
The   furniture  of  Mazarin  was  seized  and  sold,  and  the 

'  Ormesson,  i.,  655,  656. 

•Dis.  Ven.,  cviii.,  206-208,  Feb.  12th. 

•Ormesson,  657.     Talon,  331.     Journal  du  Parlement,  179-184. 

*  Ormesson,  641,  657.     Journal  du  Parlement,  182. 

•  Joly  says,  p.  19,  one  third  was  given  to  informers,  and  the  Venetian 
Minister  says  one  fifth,  t,  cviii.,  203.  Talon,  who  is  more  correct  in  such 
matters,  tells  us  they  received  but  one  tenth.  Talon,  329.  For  these  con- 
fiscations see  Journal  du  Parlement,  passim.     Ormesson,  657,  658. 


20         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Parliament  discussed  the  dispersion  of  his  great  library. 
An  inventory  was  made  that  the  sale  might  proceed  at 
once  if  so  ordered.  Such  vandalism,  though  defeated  for 
the  present,  was  unfortunately  only  delayed.' 

While  the  Parliament  was  struggling  with  these  difificul- 
ties,  the  generals  and  nobles  associated  with  it  were  plot- 
ting to  obtain  the  aid  of  Spain.  The  Spaniards  were  now 
relieved  from  the  fear  of  being  speedily  forced  to  an  in- 
glorious peace,  and  they  were  eager  to  assist  an  insurrec- 
tion in  France.  An  envoy  from  the  Archduke  Leopold, 
the  viceroy  of  the  Low  Countries,  visited  Paris  with  offers 
of  aid.  Treating  with  the  open  enemies  of  France  was  a 
perilous  negotiation,  and  the  generals  desired  that  the 
Parliament  should  become  a  party  to  it.  So  dangerous 
a  remedy,  it  was  said,  would  certainly  be  fatal  unless  it 
passed  through  the  alembic  of  the  Parliament." 

Only  a  few  days  before  the  herald  of  the  king  of  France, 
dressed  in  his  coat  of  violet  velvet,  and  carrying  his  baton 
ornamented  with  fleurs-de-lys,  had  asked  for  entrance  into 
Paris,  as  the  bearer  of  messages  from  Louis  of  France  to 
the  Parliament.  It  was  difficult  for  those  who  professed 
to  be  loyal  subjects  of  the  king  to  decline  to  receive 
his  messages,  but  a  technicality  furnished  an  excuse  to 
the  leaders.  Heralds,  it  was  said,  could  only  pass  between 
enemies  and  equals.  To  send  this  one  was  a  device  of 
Mazarin  to  lead  the  Parliament  to  acknowledge  itself  the 
enemy  of  its  king,  and  entitled  to  treat  with  him  as  one 
sovereign  with  another.  Admission  to  the  city  was, 
therefore,  refused  to  the  herald,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
content  himself  with  fastening  his  despatches  to  the  bar 
of  the  gate  of  St.  Honor^.' 

On  the  19th  of  February,  a  week  later,  the  Prince  of 
Conti  informed  the  Parliament  that  an  envoy  of  the  Arch- 
duke Leopold  prayed  an  audience.  To  refuse  admission 
to  a  messenger  of  the  king   of  France,    and    to   receive 

'Journal  du  Parlement,  192.         *  Retz,  i.,  272,  280,  291.     Mole,  441. 
•  Jc>umal  du  Parlement,  184-188.     Talon,  332,  334.     Retz,  i.,  278,  282. 
Ormesson,  661,  665.     Dis.  Ven.,  cviii.,  214. 


THE   PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  21 

one  from  the  king  of  Spain,  was  a  step  that  was  openly 
treasonable,  and  many  were  alarmed  to  see  themselves 
drifting  into  an  alliance  with  the  public  enemies.  Presi- 
dent Mesmes  asked  Conti  if  it  was  possible  that  a  prince 
of  the  blood  would  ask  a  reception  upon  the  fleurs-de-lys 
for  the  representative  of  the  most  cruel  enemy  of  France. 
*'  A  Spaniard  does  not  frighten  me  as  much  as  a  Mazarin- 
ite,"  cried  one.  "  We  have,"  said  Charton,  "  two  enemies: 
the  one  open,  the  other  secret  ;  the  one  Spanish,  the 
other  Italian ;  the  one  proud  and  haughty,  the  other 
false,  cunning,  and  dissembling.  I  mistrust  the  cardinal 
more  than  the  archduke."  ' 

A  resolution  was  passed  for  the  reception  of  the  envoy, 
and  he  presented  an  artful  letter  on  behalf  of  the  arch- 
duke. In  truth  he  was  not  a  regularly  accredited  ambas- 
sador as  he  claimed,  but  a  monk  sent  by  Leopold,  whose 
address  was  prepared  in  Paris  by  Retz  and  his  associates. 
In  this  he  stated  that  Mazarin  had  for  two  years 
refused  advantageous  offers  of  peace,  but  since  the  king 
had  left  Paris,  he  had  offered  favorable  terms  to  Spain  if 
it  would  now  unite  its  troops  with  those  of  the  king,  to 
chastise  the  rebels  of  Parliament,  and  bring  Paris  to 
reason.  But  the  Catholic  king  was  unwilling  to  contrib- 
ute to  the  oppression  of  so  august  a  body,  or  to  trust  a 
man  condemned  and  declared  an  enemy  by  its  decree. 
He  preferred  to  submit  to  its  members,  as  arbitrators, 
reasonable  terms  of  peace,  and,  in  the  meantime,  he 
offered  to  Parliament  19,000  soldiers  to  be  used  solely  for 
its  protection  and  under  its  orders.' 

These  offers  from  Spain  were  heard  with  dismay  by 
many  of  the  judges.  As  servants  of  the  king,  their  con- 
sciences reproached  them  for  listening  to  such  proposi- 
tions. Many  of  the  magistrates  found  they  had  been 
carried  much  farther  than  they  had  anticipated,  in  open 
opposition  to  the  king.  The  position  of  avowed  disobe- 
dience to  the  royal  authority  was  alien  to  their  legal  train- 

'  Ormesson,  673. 
*  Talon,  336.     Journal  du  Parlement.  196-202.     Retz,  282-298. 


22        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

ing  and  to  their  respect  for  law.  In  the  city,  also,  there 
was  a  feeling  of  langour  and  weariness.  The  taxes  levied 
were  severe  and  odious.  No  heroic  or  inspiring  achieve- 
ment relieved  the  disarrangement  of  business  which  re- 
sulted from  a  condition  of  partial  siege.  The  price  of 
bread  had  now  become  high,  and  there  was  much  com- 
plaint. The  judges  discussing  technicalities  all  day,  or 
examining  whether  some  silver  plate  or  bags  of  coins 
could  be  declared  prizes  of  war,  could  not  keep  warm  the 
fervor  of  revolt.  The  generals  had  shown  too  little 
skill  to  excite  enthusiasm  or  confidence.  It  was  charged 
that  the  courts  clung  to  technicalities  and  could  not  de- 
part from  forms  in  affairs  whose  urgency  allowed  no  forms ; 
that  these  judicial  bodies,  organized  for  times  of  peace,, 
could  never  be  fitted  for  seasons  of  commotion.'  Many 
therefore  were  desirous  to  find  some  way  for  reconciliation, 
though  they  were  opposed  by  the  younger  judges,  who 
were  eager  for  excitement,  and  by  the  populace,  who  were 
inclined  to  disturbance.  When  it  refused  to  receive  the 
king's  herald,  the  Parliament,  by  way  of  compromise,  had 
coupled  with  the  refusal  a  resolution  to  send  an  embassy 
to  the  queen  explaining  and  justifying  the  act.  It  was 
also  resolved  that  the  message  from  the  archduke  should 
be  reported  to  St.  Germain  for  the  regent's  considera- 
tion." 

There  was  some  debate  whether  deputies  should  be  re- 
ceived from  a  body  which  had  refused  an  audience  to  the 
king's  messenger,  and  granted  one  to  the  envoy  of  the 
archduke.  But  the  queen  and  Mazarin  were  both  willing 
to  avail  themselves  of  any  fair  opening  for  negotiations. 
They  found  themselves  involved  in  a  tedious  and  almost 
impossible  task,  that  of  reducing  a  great  city  by  starva- 
tion, and  that  city  was  the  capital  of  the  kingdom.  Per- 
sistence in  the  endeavor  might  compel  an  alliance  of  the 
Fronde  with  Spain,  deprive  the  queen  of  the  regency,  and 
reduce  the  kingdom  to  the  condition  of  England.  The 
situation  of  Normandy  and  of   several   of   the   southern 

'  Retz,  272,  280.  '  Journal  du  Parlement,  supra. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  2$ 

provinces  was  critical,  and  the  attitude  of  Spain  was  very 
threatening.' 

The  cou/>  d'  ^tat  had  proved  abortive,  and  it  was  best 
to  retire  from  their  position  on  any  reasonable  terms. 
Mold's  request  that  the  edict  of  January  6th,  "  that  fatal 
and  unhappy  day,"  might  be  revoked,  was,  therefore, 
listened  to  with  complaisance,  and  conferences  at  Ruel 
were  agreed  upon  to  consider  terms.  During  these  nego- 
tiations, free  passage  of  provisions  was  to  be  allowed  into 
Paris.  Measures  that  looked  towards  peace  caused  tur- 
moil among  the  eager  Frondeurs.  On  hearing  that  terms 
with  St.  Germain  were  to  be  discussed,  a  mob  gathered 
about  the  Palace  of  Justice,  crying,  "  No  peace  !  No 
Mazarin  !  Long  live  the  coadjutor !  "  But  some  cried, 
"  Give  us  bread,  or  peace  !  "  * 

On  February  28th,  it  was  decided  to  send  representa- 
tives from  the  Parliament  and  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  with 
full  powers  to  make  peace  on  such  terms  as  they  should 
deem  advantageous  for  the  state,  and  especially  for  the 
city  of  Paris.  On  the  4th  of  March,  twenty-two  deputies 
met  at  Ruel  with  the  representatives  of  the  king.* 

But  among  the  latter  was  Mazarin,  and  with  him,  as  a 
man  condemned  to  exile,  the  deputies  of  the  Parliament 
said  they  could,  under  no  consideration,  confer.  Both 
sides  were  firm.  "  There  will  be  no  conference  and  no 
peace,"  said  Anne  to  her  attendants ;  "  so  much  the 
worse    for    them."      But     neither    Cond6    nor    Orleans 

'  "  The  truth  was,"  Lionne  wrote  Servien,  "  it  was  necessary  to  make 
terms  on  account  of  the  archduke,  whose  vanguard  had  already  entered  the 
kingdom."  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  318.  Camet,  xi.,  56.  Journal  du 
Parlement,  214.     Dis.  Ven.,  cix.,  225. 

•  Retz,  i.,  330.  Motteville,  256,  259.  Ormesson,  695.  Bread  was  now 
very  dear.     Journal  d'  Aubenay,  Feb.  27,  1649. 

Mazarin's  Camets  show  the  arguments  he  constantly  used  with  the  queen  to 
prove  the  necessity  for  his  own  retention.  The  news  of  the  execution  of 
Charles  I.  reached  Paris,  and  Mazarin  shows  how  this  had  resulted  from  his 
abandonment  of  his  principal  minister,  Strafford. — Camet,  xii.,  5,  6,  8,  10, 
76. 

References  to  the  English  Parliament  and  its  conduct  at  this  time  are  in- 
quent  in  his  notes.,  x.,  86,  xii.,  8,  g,  et pas. 

*  Reg.  de  1'  Hotel  de  Ville,  i.,  328.     Journal  du  Parlement,  215,  340. 


24        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

wished  the  negotiations  to  fail,  and  it  was  agreed  that 
two  from  each  party,  of  whom  Mazarin  should  not  be 
one,  should  confer  together  and  report  to  their  respective 
associates.' 

A  week  of  conference  followed,  during  which  the  pros- 
pect of  peace  seemed  remote.  Bouillon  and  Retz  con- 
tinued their  negotiations  with  the  Spaniards,  and  both 
parties  were  eager  for  a  union  of  forces.  Turenne  had 
formally  declared  himself  for  the  insurgents.  He  had 
been  treated  with  marked  favor  by  Mazarin  and  by  the 
regent.  He  had  received  the  command  of  the  army  in 
Germany,  and  had  already  gained  for  himself  a  military 
reputation  second  only  to  that  of  Cond^.  Suddenly  to 
abandon  the  king  he  served,  and  unite  his  fortunes  with 
those  of  a  doubtful  rebellion,  seemed  contrary  to  his 
cautious  and  deliberate  temperament.  No  reason  was 
assigned  for  his  act,  but  sympathy  for  his  brother,  the 
Duke  of  Bouillon,  and  the  family  ambition  for  the  re- 
covery of  Sedan,  probably  led  him  to  take  such  a  step. 

The  leaders  of  the  Fronde  hoped  from  it  the  most  im- 
portant results.  Turenne  commanded  the  remains  of 
the  Weimerian  forces,  the  veterans  of  almost  a  dozen 
years  of  German  warfare,  and  devoted  to  their  leader. 
He  would  lead  these  soldiers  to  Paris,  and  scatter  the 
inefficient  and  inexperienced  troops  commanded  by  Cond^ 
and  Orleans.  The  government  declared  Turenne  guilty  of 
high  treason,  and  this  declaration  was,  on  the  8th,  annulled 
by  the  Parliament." 

On  March  nth,  the  Duke  of  La  Tr^mouille  offered, 
within  ten  days,  to  march  ten  thousand  men  to  the  assist- 

'  Mole,  iii.,  348-360.  Talon,  338-344.  Reg.  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  273, 
274,  328-336.     Motteville,  254.     Brienne,  106,     Dis.  Ven.,  cix.,  1-9. 

'  Mazarin  seems  accurately  to  have  forecast  Turenne's  course.  He  wrote 
that  Bouillon  had  not  received  satisfaction  in  the  matter  of  Sedan,  and  he 
would  excite  Turenne  to  commit  some  folly.  Turenne,  in  his  memoirs, 
gives  no  explanation  of  his  course,  except  that  he  thought  the  departure  of 
the  king  from  Paris  a  rash  and  improper  act  during  a  minority.  The  letters 
of  the  regent,  endeavoring  to  hold  Turenne  to  his  allegiance,  show  the  im- 
portance the  Court  attached  to  his  course. — Mem.  de  Turenne,  421-424. 
Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  287,  291,  1082,  et  passim. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  2$ 

ance  of  the  Fronde,  on  condition  that  he  should  be  al- 
lowed to  seize  the  monies  of  the  government  at  Poitiers 
and  other  places.  The  Parliament  at  once  instructed  him  to 
send  forward  his  troops,  and  help  himself  to  the  monies.' 

But  on  the  same  day  the  negotiations  of  Ruel  were 
brought  to  a  sudden  close  by  the  signing  of  arjticles  of 
peace.  The  representatives  on  both  sides  were  anxious 
to  come  to  terms,  and  at  nine  o'clock  on  the  evening  of 
the  nth.,  they  reached  an  agreement,  and  the  articles 
were  signed  forthwith.  There  had  been  a  large  variation 
in  the  terms  proposed  by  the  opposite  parties.  Orleans 
and  Cond^  demanded  that  there  should  be  no  assembly 
of  the  chambers  of  the  Parliament  for  three  years,  with- 
out the  express  permission  of  the  king,  except  for  their 
ordinary  judicial  duties,  and  at  no  time  should  any  one 
participate  in  such  meetings  who  had  not  served  for 
twenty  years ;  twenty-five  of  the  body  should  retire  from 
Paris,  and  a  solemn  deputation  of  aldermen  and  citizens 
should  demand  pardon  of  the  king  in  behalf  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  city.  The  effects  and  furniture  confiscated 
must  be  restored,  or  reparation  made  for  their  loss. 

Such  terms,  however,  were  promptly  refused.  Some  of 
the  representatives  were  active  Frondeurs,  and  even  M0I6, 
and  the  President  Mesmes,  who  were  most  anxious  for 
peace,  were  tenacious  of  the  dignity  of  the  body  to  which 
they  belonged.  They  demanded  in  their  reply  that  free 
pardon  should  be  granted  to  all ;  the  edict  against  the 
Parliament  should  be  annulled,  and  his  majesty  should  be 
humbly  requested  to  enforce  the  edict  of  161 7,  which  for- 
bade any  foreigner  being  admitted  into  the  ministry  or 
management  of  affairs;  the  declarations  of  May,  July, 
and  October,  1648,  should  be  inviolably  observed,  and 
Paris  be  discharged  from  the  taille  for  three  years.  Or- 
leans and  Cond6  were  at  first  little  inclined  to  yield  any 

'  Retz.  ii.,  38.  Reg.  d'  Hot.  de  Ville,  i.,  313.  314.  Journal  du  Parle- 
ment,  371.  The  sale  of  Mazarin's  furniture  still  continued,  and  on  the  9th, 
Ormesson  saw  great  quantities  struck  off  to  an  Abbe  of  Normandy,  and 
a  tall  stranger  named  Lopes  buying  numerous  tables  and  other  articles. 
— Ormesson,  703. 


26        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

thing,  and  the  prince  manifested  more  than  his  usual 
hauteur ;  but  on  the  i  ith  a  disposition  was  shown  to  com- 
promise, and  terms  were  agreed  upon.  It  was  said  that 
Mesmes  and  Mazarin  had  decided,  at  a  secret  conference, 
that  some  terms  must  be  made  without  more  delay.' 

By  this  agreement,  amnesty  was  granted  to  all,  and  the 
edicts  were  revoked  that  banished  the  Parliament  to 
Montargis,  or  imposed  penalties  upon  its  members.  But 
during  the  year  1649,  there  should  be  no  assembly  of  the 
chambers  upon  any  pretext,  except  for  regular  meetings, 
to  discuss  their  own  procedure  and  internal  regulations. 
Their  decrees  passed  during  the  insurrection,  except 
in  the  ordinary  decision  of  cases,  were  likewise  to  be  re- 
garded as  of  no  effect.  Loans  might  be  made  by  the 
king  during  the  years  1649-50,  as  he  should  judge  neces- 
sary for  the  expenses  of  the  state,  at  the  rate  of  eight 
and  one  third  per  cent.'' 

Conti  and  all  those  who  had  joined  with  the  Parliament 
were  to  be  restored  to  any  offices  which  they  held  when 
they  took  up  arms,  if  they  declared  within  four  days  that 
they  joined  in  the  peace.  To  show  his  affection  for  his 
good  city  of  Paris,  the  king  would  return  there  as  soon  as 
matters  of  state  allowed,  and,  as  a  compliment  to  the 
Parliament,  one  of  its  members  should  be  chosen  whenever 
deputies  were  sent  to  treat  for  peace  with  Spain.  No 
reference  was  made  to  the  edicts  of  the  past  year,  and  the 
taille  at  Paris  was  left  for  the  king's  further  consideration.' 

'  Retz,  ii.,  41-43.  But,  as  the  coadjutor  claims  he  was  a  principal  ob- 
ject in  their  conferences,  his  statement  must  be  received  with  the  allowance 
required  from  his  constant  desire  to, magnify  his  own  importance  in  these 
transactions.  Mazarin  claimed  afterwards  that  if  Conde  and  Orleans  had. 
remained  firm,  Paris  and  the  Parliament  would  have  been  obliged  to  surrent 
der  unconditionally. — Lettres  i  la  Reine,  11,  April,  1651. 

'  Mole,  iii.,  372.  M.  Cheruel  says  this  was  to  be  allowed  only  for  1649, 
but  the  treaty  as  published  in  Mole  shows  it  was  for  1650  also. 

*  Mole,  iii.,  370-374,  A  very  full  account  of  the  whole  negotiation  is^ 
contained  in  the  Reg.  del'Hotel  de  Ville,  1  ,  328-371.  See  also  Journal  du 
Parlement,  342-381.  See  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  316-324.  He  expresses 
great  satisfaction  in  his  letters,  and  says  the  peace  restores  the  authority  of  the- 
king  and  will  destroy  the  hopes  the  Spanish  had  built  on  their  dissensions. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  2J 

By  this  treaty  the  regent  failed  to  attain  what  had  been, 
hoped  in  January  would  result  from  the  abandonment  of 
Paris,  but  the  terms  were  even  mo^e  unpalatable  to 
the  Fronde.  The  Parliament  was  indeed  to  remain  at 
Paris,  but  for  the  rest  of  1649  it  was  to  consider  no  politi- 
cal questions.  For  almost  a  year  it  abdicated  its 
position  as  a  legislative  body.  What  was  still  worse, 
Mazarin  remained  in  full  power ;  not  only  was  he  undis- 
turbed in  his  office,  but  his  name  was  signed  to  the  treaty 
as  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  king. 

The  leading  Frondeurs  heard  of  the  treaty  late  at  night 
on  the  nth,  and  they  at  once  began  to  consider  in  what 
manner  it  might  be  rejected.  It  was  easy  to  excite  tur- 
bulence in  the  mob,  by  the  cry  that  the  judges  had  agreed 
to  a  treaty  that  was  signed  by  Mazarin.  The  majority  of 
the  Parliament,  also,  were  at  first  displeased  by  this  act  of 
their  representatives,  but  it  was  probable  that  their 
resentment  would  be  brief.  But  the  anger  of  the  noble 
allies  was  strong  and  deep.  A  peace  had  been  made,  not 
only  without  their  counsel,  but  without  provision  for  their 
interests.  It  insured  them  indemnity  indeed,  but  they  had 
taken  up  arms,  not  for  indemnity,  but  for  gain.  Yet  they 
had  declared  that  they  joined  the  Parliament  that  their  last 
drop  of  blood  might  be  shed  for  the  public  weal,  and  now 
they  would  be  driven  to  say  that  they  would  consent  to 
no  terms,  but  such  as  would  secure  their  individual  emolu- 
ment. In  these  straits  Bouillon  favored  protracting  the 
negotiations  until  the  army  of  the  archduke  could  reach 
Paris,  when  he  would  be  in  position  to  continue  the  war 
or  dictate  terms.  Some  advocated  separating  entirely 
from  the  Parliament,  closing  the  gates  against  the  deputies 
on  their  return,  and  with  sufficient  forces  coercing  the 
magistrates  both  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  the  Palace  of 
Justice.  Retz  had  a  policy  so  intricate  and  devious  that 
no  one  else  could  understand  it.  But  their  secret  and 
lengthy  consultations  resulted  in  nothing,  except  an 
endeavor  to  keep  the  Parliament  from  accepting  the 
articles  of  peace.' 

'  Retz,  ii.,  45-57- 


28         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

It  was  urged  by  many  of  the  judges  that  the  authority 
of  the  deputies  had  ceased  before  they  signed  the  treaty. 
There  had  been  complaints  that  suppHes  were  not  allowed 
to  pass  freely,  and  on  the  9th,  the  Parliament  had  resolved 
that  the  conference  should  be  suspended  till  there  should 
be  free  passage  for  all  sorts  of  provisions.  An  amendment 
had  delayed  the  publication  of  this  resolution,  until  in- 
formation could  be  received  whether  further  safe-conducts 
for  wheat  had  been  sent.'  There  was  little  doubt  but 
that  Mole  and  some  of  those  with  him  were  desirous  of 
peace,  and  had  hastened  the  treaty,  in  the  fear  that  nego- 
tiations might  be  abandoned.  They  had  resolved  to  take 
upon  themselves  the  heavy  responsibility  of  signing  a 
peace  that  possibly  would  be  rejected,  and  would  expose 
them  to  opprobrium  and  the  -danger  of  violence.  On  the 
13th  of  March  they  returned  to  Paris  and  presented  the 
treaty  to  the  Parliament.  As  its  members  entered  the 
palace  they  found  a  mob  surrounding  it  and  filling  the 
great  hall,  crying  with  confused  and  terrifying  clamor  : 
"  No  Peace  !  "  "  No  Mazarin  !  '*  "  Throw  the  Mazarinites 
into  the  Seine !  "  The  body  assembled,  and  the  first 
president  arose  to  make  his  report.  But  he  was  met  with 
cries  of  "  No  peace  !  "  "  No  report !  '  "  The  treaty  is  null 
and  made  against  our  orders !  ''  *'  Wheat  was  not  fur- 
nished !  "  "  Longueville  and  the  generals  are  not  included  !" 
He  made  himself  heard  at  last,  and  a  long  discussion  fol- 
lowed. 

In  the  meantime  a  great  tumult  raged  outside  the  door, 
the  people  crying  for  the  treaty  to  be  given  them,  that  the 
common  hangman  might  burn  the  signature  of  Mazarin. 
The  Marquis  of  Longas  urged  the  court  to  send  out  a 
paper  with  a  counterfeit  signature,  but  the  Parliament 
was  not  yet  willing  to  yield  to  mob  law.  The  time  for 
adjournment  was  reached,  and  the  mob  was  so  fierce  that 
Mol^,  who  was  in  most  danger  from  its  violence,  was  ad- 
vised to  go  out  through  the  record  office,  and  so  escape 
unnoticed.     "This  court  does  not  hide  itself,"  replied  the 

'  Journal  du  Parlement,   361. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  29 

first  president ;  "  they  would  find  me  at  home  if  they 
thought  I  feared  them  here."  Retz  and  Beaufort  were 
beHeved  to  have  aroused  this  tumult,  but  they  walked 
out  through  the  grand  hall  with  Mol^,  and  he  passed 
unmolested  through  the  crowd.  Cries  of  "  A  republic  !  " 
were  heard  as  they  passed  out.' 

On  the  15th  the  treaty  came  up  for  further  discussion. 
Broussel  said  this  was  a  very  serious  deliberation,  and  it 
had  best  be  postponed.  "  It  is  serious,"  said  Mol^,  "  and 
therefore  it  had  best  be  finished."  The  debate  proceeded. 
Bouillon  defending  the  military  policy  and  prospects  of 
the  Fronde,  and  Broussel  attacking  the  terms  of  the  treaty. 
It  was  null,  he  said,  because  made  contrary  to  orders ;  it 
consented  to  abandon  the  meetings  of  the  Parliament ; 
by  the  articles  on-  loans  it  showed  that  this  war  had  been 
carried  on  solely  for  the  interest  of  the  money-lenders, 
and  by  surrendering  the  arsenal  and  Bastille  it  furnished 
the  means  of  destroying  Paris.  Retz  declared  that  he, 
more  than  any  one  else,  desired  peace,  but  he  wished  it  to 
be  safe  and  honorable,  and  this  was  neither ;  the  sessions 
of  the  Parliament  were  prohibited  ;  the  generals  failed  in 
their  efTorts  to  deliver  the  public  from  a  man  who  had 
been  declared  the  enemy  of  the  state ;  all  things  were  in 
a  condition  for  them  to  obtain  a  glorious  peace  :  they 
should  not  accept  this  agreement,  but  ask  from  the  queen 
terms  worthy  her  goodness  and  justice.  The  articles 
as  to  the  loans  repelled  the  President  Hodic.  He  said 
the  presence  of  the  archduke  was  better  than  peace 
on  such  conditions,  for  the  archduke  was  a  Catholic 
enemy,  obeying  God,  but  loans  and  usury,  which  the 
articles  allowed,  were  contrary  to  God's  laws,  as  well  as 
man's.  But  Broussel  disconcerted  his  associates  by  de- 
claring his  vote  for  the  acceptance  of  the  treaty,  upon  the 
condition  that  the  deputies  should  return  to  St.  Germain 
in  order  to  obtain  the  revocation  of  certain  articles,  and  to 
treat  of  the  interest  of  the  generals.  The  friends  of  the 
measure  were  content  with  this  resolution,  which  practi- 

'  Retz,  ii.,  62. 


30         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

cally  confirmed  the  treaty,  and  left  the  interests  of  the 
generals  where  they  might  be  urged,  but  could  not  be 
made  a  condition  of  peace.  All,  therefore,  cast  their 
votes  for  the  motion  of  the  popular  Frondeur,  and  it 
prevailed. 

Broussel  was  a  mere  child  in  the  affairs  in  which  his 
arrest  had  given  him  an  accidental  prominence.  Shrewder 
men  used  him  to  advance  their  plans.  He  was  easily 
persuaded  by  any  sophistry,  and  his  great  favor  with  the 
people  made  any  thing  that  he  advocated  popular  with 
them.  But  he  was  a  dangerous  ally,  for  his  mind  was 
very  simple,  and  after  speaking  one  way,  he  would  give 
the  victory  to  the  enemy  by  some  act,  the  effect  of  which 
he  was  unable  to  understand.* 

In  conformity  with  this  resolution,  the  deputies  on  the 
i6th  returned  to  St.  Germain,  to  ask  for  modification  in 
the  terms  that  had  been  granted  by  the  regent.  The 
generals  and  princes  had  submitted  separate  statements 
of  what  each  demanded  for  himself,  and  many  of  them 
conducted  private  negotiations  in  their  own  behalf.  The 
generals  were  charmed  with  a  programme  which  allowed 
them  to  play  the  bravo  in  the  Parliament  all  day,  and  try 
to  make  terms  with  the  government  all  night.  But  a 
statement  of  their  demands,  which  Mole,  perhaps  with  a 
malicious  intention,  at  once  made  public,  covered  them 
with  ridicule.  Each  seemed  to  vie  with  the  other  in  the 
preposterous  greed  of  his  desires.  Even  the  smallest  oflfi- 
cers  had  sent  requests,  which  would  have  been  large  if 
they  had  been  demanded  by  Longueville  or  Bouillon." 
Retz  had  sufficient  dignity  or  sufficient  shrewdness  to 
preserve  his  claim  for  disinterestedness,  and  he  asked  for 
nothing.  He  even  refused  to  have  his  name  inserted  in 
the  treaty  among  those  who  were  specifically  declared  to 
be  included  in  the  amnesty,  saying  that,  as  he  had  done 
nothing  which  he  had  not  believed  to  be  for  the  service 

'  For  these  debates  see  Ormesson,  705-720  ;  Talon,  346,  347  ;  Retz,  ii., 
51-65  ;  Journal  du  Parlement,  38^3-393. 

*  "Chacun  croyt  d'aujourdhui  de  fayre  ses  aSayres  dans  les  minorites  des 
Roys." — Camet,  xii.,  59. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  3 1 

of  the  king  and  the  interest  of  the  state,  he  needed  no 
amnesty.' 

No  such  modesty  was  shown  by  his  associates.  Conti 
asked  for  a  position  in  the  council  and  the  government  of 
some  strong  place.  Rochefoucauld  demanded  the  tabou- 
ret for  his  wife,  and  for  himself  eighteen  thousand  livres 
for  commanding  the  fusiliers,  to  be  continued  whether 
there  were  fusiliers  or  not.  Longueville  wanted  an  im- 
portant government  in  Normandy,  with  the  reversion  to 
his  children.  Elboeuf  asked  for  the  payment  of  large 
sums  that  were  claimed  to  be  due  to  him  and  to  his  wife. 
Beaufort  wished  Brittany  for  his  father,  and  money  for 
himself.  Bouillon  desired  a  vast  sum  of  money  as  com- 
pensation for  the  loss  of  Sedan,  and  for  Turenne  the  gov- 
ernment of  Alsace  and  Philipsburg.  For  La  Mothe  over 
700,000  livres  of  compensation  were  required,  and  the 
Prince  of  Harcourt  and  others  of  less  degree  made  re- 
quests that  were  nearly  as  large.' 

To  preserve  their  dignity  in  some  degree,  Conti  declared 
in  their  behalf  that  if  Cardinal  Mazarin,  the  sole  cause  of 
all  the  evils  of  France,  was  retired,  they  would  abandon 
their  just  claims,  and  they  sent  a  special  deputy  to  an- 
nounce this  resolution.* 

But  all  knew  that  the  regent  would  as  soon  lose  her  own 
right  hand  as  sacrifice  Mazarin.  The  deputies  were  in- 
formed that  subjects  must  not  prescribe  the  choice  of  the 
ministers  of  state  to  the  sovereign,  and  that  both  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  and  the  Prince  of  Cond6  deemed  the 
retention  of  Mazarin  advantageous  to  the  kingdom.* 

The  hopes  of  the  Frondeurs  had  already  met  with  a  dis- 
appointment.   By  great  activity  and  the  use  of  large  sums 

'  Retz,  it.,  112.  This  omission  was  unjustly  and  unfairly  used  by  Mazarin 
in  1655  as  allowing  him  to  press  against  Retz  charges  for  whatever  he  had 
done  in  1648-9. 

'  These  requests  are  contained  in  full  in  Mole,  filling  twenty-two  printed 
pages — iii.,  449-471.  They  are  also  condensed,  though  with  her  usual  cor- 
rectness, by  Mme.  de  Motteville,  267-269.  "  De'  principi  generali  le  prc- 
tentioni  eccedenti." — Dis.  Ven.,  cix.,  22. 

•  Talon,  348.     Mole,  iii.,  471,  474.  *Mol^,  iii.,  475,  et  seq. 


32  FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

of  money  in  bribing  the  officers  and  paying  to  the  soldiers- 
the  arrears  due  them,  the  greater  portion  of  Turenne's 
army  had  been  induced  to  desert  him.  Finding  himself 
abandoned  by  his  troops,  he  retired  with  a  handful  of 
followers  into  Holland.'  Retz  says  that  a  special  mes- 
senger announced  this  alarming  news  to  him  and  Bouil- 
lon, when  they  were  conferring  with  representatives  of  the 
archduke." 

The  archduke  was  still  desirous  of  advancing  to  Paris, 
and  his  army  entered  the  French  territory.  But  the 
Frondeurs  apprehended  that  if  they  were  unsupported  by 
Turenne,  the  assistance  of  the  archduke  might  become 
a  dictatorship,  and  they  did  not  wish  to  sacrifice  them- 
selves to  help  Spain,  but  to  sacrifice  Spain  to  help  them- 
selves. The  merchants  and  artisans  were  suffering  from 
the  dearness  of  provisions.  Being  without  business,  the 
bourgeois  were  forced  to  discharge  their  domestics,  and 
were  in  danger  of  losing  their  credit.  They  now  desired 
peace  without  delay.* 

Conti,  the  generalissimo  of  the  Fronde,  feigned  fre- 
quent illness,  because,  it  was  said,  he  was  afraid  of  the 
disturbances  at  the  palace.* 

Yet  Mazarin  did  not  feel  entirely  safe  in  his  position. 
The  Parliament  of  Paris  was  respected  and  he  was  de- 
tested over  all  France.    Many  Parliaments  and  cities  had 

'  Mem.  de  Turenne,  iv.,  22,  23,  422,  423.  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  291, 
1082  et passim. 

'It  would  seem  that  this  news  must  have  reached  them  before  the  articles^ 
were  signed  on  March  nth.  A  letter  of  Lionne,  of  March  6th,  says  that 
Turenne  had  been  abandoned  by  his  army.  Aff.  Etr.,  t.  cxxv.,  p.  73. 
Mazarin  speaks  of  this  intelligence  discouraging  the  representatives  at  Ruel. 
Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  307,  March  7th.  The  duty  of  buying  the  German  mer- 
cenaries  away  from  Turenne  was  entrusted  to  Barthelemy  Herwarth,  ib., 
iii.,  308,  et  passim. 

*  Talon,  357.  Dis.  Ven.,  cix.,  18.  "  La  maggiore  parte  dei  Parlamentarii 
e  de'  Popoli  mutati  d'  opinione,"  etc. 

*  Retz,  104.     Conti  was  ridiculed  in  the  political  satire  of  the  time : 

"  L'  univers  doit  etre  averti, 
,  Qu'il  a  sauve  la  pauvre  France, 
Monsieur  le  Prince  de  Conti, 
Avec  son  zele  et  prudence." 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  33 

declared  their  union,  and  were  raising  troops  for  the 
common  cause.'  The  armies  of  the  archduke  had  reached 
Pontavert,  and  Mazarin  thought  that  the  Parliament  should 
be  conciliated." 

A  personal  annoyance  may  also  have  increased  the  car- 
dinal's desire  for  peace.  The  sale  of  his  furniture  still  con- 
tinued at  Paris.  It  was  said  to  have  caused  him  much 
pain,  because  he  loved  what  belonged  to  him,  and  espe- 
cially what  he  had  obtained  from  foreign  countries  with 
so  much  trouble.  His  palace  had  been  magnificently  fur- 
nished with  tapestries,  paintings,  and  statuary," 

The  conferences  were,  therefore,  held  night  and  day.  The 
article  was  omitted  which  forbade  the  joint  sessions  of  the 
chambers  of  the  Parliament  during  the  year.  The  regent 
contented  herself  with  the  promise  of  the  deputies  that 
none  should  be  held.  The  demand  for  a  bed  of  justice  at 
St.  Germain  was  waived,  and  the  restitution  of  the  Bastille 
was  not  insisted  upon.  The  demands  of  the  princes  and 
generals  were  treated  with  less  favor.  Mazarin  boasted 
that  with  a  little  powder  of  alchemy  he  had  destroyed  this 
cloud  of  pretensions.  "  He  would  have  been  wiser,"  says 
Retz,  "  to  have  mingled  a  little  gold."  * 

The  leaders,  at  all  events,  received  little  but  abundance 
of  fair  words.  The  sums  justly  due,  the  declaration  said, 
should  be  paid.  Vendome  was  to  receive  his  pension,  and 
the  king  was  to  use  his  influence  to  induce  the  States 
of  Brittany  to  compensate  him  for  the  destruction  of  his 
chateau,  and  on  all  occasions  that  might  offer,  his  majesty 
would  desire  to  favor  and  advance  his  family.  For  Har- 
court  and  others,  all  was  to  be  done  that  was  possible. 
Commissioners  were  to  consider  what  sum  would  be  just 
to  compensate  Bouillon  for  Sedan,  and  Turenne  was  to  be 

'  Reg.  del'  Hotel  de  Ville,  344,  377,  385.  399. 

'  Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  dccclxv.,  p.  no. 

*  In  one  of  the  Mazarinades,  an  inventory  of  some  of  his  furniture  and 
property  was  given,  in  order  to  excite  the  people  by  a  description  of  its 
costliness.  The  pamphlet  complained  also  of  the  shameful  nudity  of  the 
statues.  The  statue  of  charity,  it  was  said,  was  found  in  a  dark  place. — Ma- 
Tarinades,  vol.  i.,  pages  143-148.  *  Retz,  ii.,  109.     Motteville,  267 


34        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

rewarded  as  his  qualities  and  services  demanded,'  But 
the  princes  and  generals  received  much  more  in  promises, 
than  in  ready  money  or  in  commissions  already  sealed 
and  delivered.''  The  articles  were,  however,  agreed  upon 
by  the  representatives  of  the  courts  and  of  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  and  on  April  ist,  the  king's  declaration  embodying 
them  was  presented  to  the  Parliament.  Popular  ferment 
still  threatened  that  body,  and  the  streets  were  filled  with 
men  crying  :  "  No  peace  !  No  Mazarin  !  "  Those  who  fav- 
ored the  treaty  declared  that  these  emotions  were  excited 
by  the  use  of  money,  and  that  some  of  these  brawlers  were 
heard  in  the  grand  hall  of  the  palace  saying  :  "  You  have 
promised  us  a  scudo  to  cry  *  No  Mazarin !  '  but  we  have 
only  been  paid  thirty  sous.     We  will  cry  no  longer."  * 

Fearful  of  some  bloody  tumult,  companies  of  bourgeois 
guarded  the  Palace  of  Justice  from  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning.*  At  nine  o'clock  the  session  began.  The 
articles  were  read,  and  each  of  the  princes  and  generals 
attacked  what  he  considered  was  an  insufficient  allowance 
for  himself.  Bouillon  complained  that  his  interests  had 
not  been  even  discussed.  To  this  Mol^  replied  that  his 
deputies  had  given  no  information,  and  that  if  he  would 
say  precisely  what  he  wanted  for  Sedan  that  would  be 
what  they  had  thus  far  been  unable  to  discover.  An  in- 
discreet debate  disclosed  the  fact  that  the  generals  had 
negotiated  separately  for  the  best  terms  they  could  ob- 
tain, and  that  Bouillon  had  demanded  the  enormous  sum 
of  nine  million  livres,  and  said  that  nothing  less  would 
satisfy  his  pretensions.'  Though  many  grumbled,  it  was 
useless  to  oppose,  and  the  articles  of  peace  were,  unani- 
mously registered.* 

'  Mazarin,  in  a  memorandum  made  March  2ist,  points  out  why  no  great 
favor  should  be  granted  a  house  whose  chief  had  declared  against  the  king 
and  younger  brother  committed  treason. — Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  329-331. 

*  Mole,  iii.,  475,  493.  *  Ormesson,  727,  *  Talon,  350,  351. 

*  Mazarin  said  that  in  1648  Bouillon  demanded  18,000,000  as  compensa- 
tion for  Sedan. — Lettres,  iii.,  105. 

•Ormesson,  729,  733.  Mazarin,  Lettres,  iii.,  335,  expresses  disappoint- 
ment at  some  of  the  conditions  of  the  peace  as  finally  made,  but  says  they 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  35 

The  twelve  weeks'  war  was  ended,  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  Parliament,  which  desired  that  the  forms  of  law  should 
be  no  longer  disturbed  by  insurrection,  and  of  the  better 
class  of  citizens,  who  wished  for  public  tranquillity.  But 
the  peace  created  little  enthusiasm  among  the  people,  who 
had  hoped  never  again  to  see  Mazarin,  or  among  the 
nobles,  who  were  disappointed  of  any  advantages  from 
this  uprising.'  Permanent  tranquillity  was  by  no  means 
assured  by  the  treaty.  The  popular  discontent  with  Ma- 
zarin had  become  no  less.  The  dissatisfied  and  turbulent 
nobles  were  neither  contented  nor  intimidated.  The 
government  was  not  strong  enough  to  restrain  the  people 
or  overawe  the  nobility,  and  it  excited  neither  love  nor 
fear. 

The  disturbances  in  some  of  the  provinces  were  not  en- 
tirely allayed  by  the  peace  of  Ruel.  Normandy  had 
joined  in  the  treaty.  Deputies  from  Rouen  had  visited 
St.  Germain,  and  presented  requests  in  behalf  of  their 
province.  Among  other  things  they  stated  that  the 
ruin  of  commerce  came  chiefly  from  the  impositions 
on  manufactures  and  the  entry  of  foreign  goods,  and  the 
king  was  prayed  to  prohibit  the  introduction  of  dressed 
leather  from  foreign  countries.'  Satisfaction  was  granted 
to  some  of  their  requests.  As  to  the  latter,  it  was  said 
that  the  merchants  trafficking  in  such  things  must  first  be 
consulted.' 

But  serious  attacks  were  still  made  on  the  royal  au- 
thority. The  payment  of  duties  was  stopped.  Salt  was 
taken  from  the  royal  store-houses,  in  which  it  was  placed 
for  the  collection  of  the  gabelle.  Its  open  sale,  at  half  the 
price  demanded  by  the  government  monopoly,  excited  a 
feverish  enthusiasm  among  the  poor,  who  sufTered  from 

could  do  no  better,  and  it  was  by  a  miracle  that  they  were  so  well  rid 
of  the  demands  of  the  generals  and  nobles.  Talon,  350,  353.  Journal  du 
Parlement,  393-427. 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cix.,  31.  "  II  Popolo  di  Parigi  non  apparendo  per  la  sua  parte 
intieramente  contento,"  etc.  The  unsettled  condition  of  popular  feeling 
and  the  probability  of  new  troubles  are  constantly  referred  to  by  the  ambas- 
sador. *  Mole,  vol.  iii  ,  426,  427.  *  Mole,  iii.,  437,  440. 


36         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

this  odious  tax.'  Some  concession  had  been  made  to  the 
Parliament  of  the  province,  but  its  chief  desire  was  for  the 
abolition  of  the  semestre,  the  new  judges  created  by  Riche- 
lieu, who  diminished  the  duties  and  emoluments  of  the 
former  members,  and  in  this  it  failed." 

The  creation  in  1647  of  a  semestre  in  Provence,  added  to 
a  long  series  of  encroachments  upon  local  rights,  had  there 
excited  a  general  feeling  of  discontent.  The  sentiments  of 
the  older  judges  were  so  bitter  that  they  hoped  to  prevent 
the  sale  of  any  of  the  ofifices  of  this  new  creation.  An 
advocate  named  Gueydon,  who  was  among  the  first  who 
sought  to  become  a  member  of  the  semestre,  was  assassi- 
nated.' But  purchasers  were  found  who  dared  death  for 
fees.  At  the  first  sound  of  a  revolt  in  Paris,  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Provence  sent  a  petition  to  demand  aid  and  pro- 
tection. A  peace  was  negotiated  in  March  for  them  by 
Cardinal  Bichi,  and  the  ofifices  of  the  additional  judges 
were  abolished,  upon  reimbursement  to  those  who  had 
bought  the  positions.  The  province  and  its  governor 
continued,  however,  on  very  bad  terms,  and  there  was 
constant  discontent  and  disturbance.* 

The  condition  of  Guienne  was  still  worse.  The  op- 
pressions of  a  local  potentate  had  there,  also,  aggravated 
the  discontent  against  the  general  government.  The 
governor  of  the  province  was  the  Duke  of  Epernon,  in 
whose  family  pride,  selfishness,  and  tyranny  seemed  to- 
be  hereditary.  In  1648  the  duke  had  excited  serious 
troubles.  Bribed  by  a  gift  of  twelve  thousand  livres,  he 
authorized  some  merchants  to  export  wheat  from  Guienne,. 
which  was  then  suffering  from  a  severe  dearth,  and  send 
it  to  Spain,  where  the  need  was  still  greater.  When  all 
nations  allow  the  unchecked  exportation  of  grain,  and  it 
flows  freely  to  that  quarter  of  the  world  where  it  is  most 
needed,  such  a  measure  would  not  seem  improper.     But 

'  Floquet,  "  Parlement  de  Normandie,"  t.  v. 

•  Mole,  iii.,  427,  439.  *  "  La  Fronde  en  Provence." 

*  Journal  du  Parlement,  12(),  el  passim.  Dis.  Ven.,  ci\.,  passim.  "  Lt 
Fronde  en  Provence,"  Gaffarel,  published  in  the  Revue  Historique,  1876. 
I^etires  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  332;  ct passim. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  yj 

at  a  time  when  the  means  of  transportation  were  imper- 
fect, and  when  artificial  barriers  increased  the  difficulties  of 
communication,  to  ship  a  moderate  amount  of  grain  from 
a  district  might  bring  upon  it  the  possibility  of  famine, 
and  the  certainty  of  famine  prices.  It  required  more  time, 
expense,  and  labor  to  send  a  quantity  of  wheat  from 
Picardyto  Poitou  than  now  to  ship  it  from  Kansas  and  lay 
it  down  on  the  docks  of  Havre  or  Marseilles.  The  trans- 
portation of  supplies  was  not  only  difficult,  and  hindered 
by  countless  duties  of  ferryage,  ingress  and  egress,  but  in 
times  of  scanty  crops  it  was  often  forbidden.  Local  feel- 
ings were  not  then  merged  into  national  sympathies,  and 
Maine,  in  its  hour  of  need,  would  spare  no  bread  for  Brit- 
tany, nor  Burgundy  for  Champagne.  Ignorance  of  the 
condition  of  affairs  in  neighboring  districts  still  further 
hindered  that  uniformity  of  prices,  which  comes  from 
cheap  transportation  and  frequent  communication.  Dif- 
ferences often  existed  in  the  prices  of  food  and  labor  at  a 
distance  of  one  hundred  miles,  greater  than  would  now  be 
found  between  Iowa  and  Hesse  Cassel. 

The  exportation  of  a  small  amount  of  grain  from  Gui- 
enne  might  therefore  cause  a  famine,  and  a  furious  crowd 
gathered  about  the  quays  to  stop  its  shipment.  Epernon 
tried  to  check  the  disturbance,  but  he  was  surrounded  by 
crowds  of  men  dressed  in  rags,  and  of  starving  women, 
crying  out  that  they  were  perishing  from  hunger  and  he 
was  sending  away  bread.  The  king  cancelled  the  per- 
mission granted  by  the  governor,  but  the  condition  of  the 
province  continued  disturbed,  and  it  became  worse  after 
the  outbreak  of  Paris.  These  troubles  did  not  cease  with 
the  peace  of  Ruel,  and  Epernon's  forces  inflicted  severe 
loss  on  the  ill-disciplined  rebels,  who  had  no  military  skill 
except  such  as  was  furnished  by  famine  and  despair.' 

Such  disorders,  though  no  great  armies  met  and  no 
great  victories  were  won,  caused  as  much  distress  to  the 

'  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  343.  Lettre  d'Ar^enson  4  Mazarin,  May  16, 
1649.  These  disturbances  are  quite  fully  stated  in  Dis.  Ven.,  cix.,  and  ex., 
and  Let.  de  Maz.,  iii.,  passim. 


38         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

country  as  if  it  had  been  a  battlefield  for  the  forces 
of  Gustavus  and  Wallenstein.  One  account  out  of  many- 
describes  the  misery  of  Guienne,  a  misery  no  greater 
there  than  in  the  other  provinces  which  were  scourged  by 
the  presence  of  the  armies.  "  The  country  around  Bor- 
deaux," it  says,  "  is  in  great  desolation.  One  hears  only 
the  cries  of  the  miserable  inhabitants,  one  sees  only  the 
villages  burned  and  the  roads  strewed  with  the  dead. 
It  is  a  country  of  desolation  and  sadness.  Camblanes, 
Carignan,  and  Tresses  were  for  several  days  the  prey  of 
the  soldiers,  who  were  the  more  insolent  because  their 
excesses  were  unpunished.  At  Camblanes  the  church  to 
which  the  inhabitants  had  filed  was  given  to  the  flames^ 
and  a  young  girl,  pursued  by  the  soldiers,  threw  herself 
into  them,  preferring  death  to  dishonor." 

Normandy  was  also  infested  by  disbanded  soldiers,  rob- 
bing, pillaging  and  murdering,  while  the  fields  that  had  been 
abandoned  in  despair  by  their  laborers,  remained  untilled.' 
In  Picardy  were  five  German  regiments,  accompanied  by 
1,500  women  and  900  servants.  They  did  not  know  the 
language  of  the  people  on  whom  they  were  quartered,  and 
they  regarded  them  as  idolaters  worshipping  the  mass. 
Their  taste  for  pillage  was  increased  because  they  did  not 
receive  their  pay.  To  robbery  and  rape  for  employment, 
they  added  murder  and  torture  for  amusement.  They 
dressed  up  a  goat  in  the  clothes  of  a  woman  they  had 
killed,  put  it  to  bed,  and  took  the  cur6  there  to  adminis- 
ter the  sacraments  of  the  church.  He  refused  to  turn  his 
religion  into  a  travesty,  and  they  tortured  him  to  death. 
Peasants  had  fire  put  to  the  soles  of  their  feet  to  compel 
them  to  discover  their  hoards,  which  usually  had  no  exist- 
ence, and  if  this  was  not  effectual  their  daughters  were 
violated  before  their  faces.  The  country  was  filled  with 
outcasts  seeking  the  alms  and  shelter  which  few  were  able 
to  afford  them.* 

'  See  statements  published  in  "  La  Misere,"  144,  151.  Complaints  of  such 
outrages  are  referred  to  by  the  Venetian  ambassador,  cix. ,  47,  el  pas. 

'  Contemporary  relation  published  in  "  Le  Diocese  de  Laon  pendant  la 
Fronde." 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  39 

Though  such  ruin  made  more  miserable  the  lot  of  those 
whose  fate  at  best  was  poverty  and  need,  the  civil  war  was 
regarded  by  many  of  its  leaders  as  an  amusing  burlesque. 
It  was  called  by  Tallemant  a  burlesque  war,  "  Guerre  pour 
rire"  and  it  was  deemed  by  the  ladies  of  the  Fronde  such 
a  war  as  might  be  waged  by  the  Grand  Duchess  of  Gerol- 
stein. 

At  Paris,  the  leaders  of  the  insurrection  were  now  en- 
gaged in  presenting  their  submission  to  the  government, 
and  in  forming  combinations  for  new  disorders.  The 
position  of  the  Prince  of  Cond6  was  in  such  plans  the 
most  important  element.  His  relations  were  naturally 
with  the  Frondeurs.  Mme.  de  Longueville  was  again  on 
friendly  terms  with  him,  and  she  used  her  sisterly  arts  to 
draw  him  from  his  alliance  with  Mazarin.  The  aristo- 
cratic Frondeurs  saw  in  the  prince  a  man  whose  rank  and 
character  made  him  their  most  proper  leader.  On  the 
other  hand,  Mazarin  and  the  regent  were  willing  to  pur- 
chase his  support  at  any  price.  Cond6  felt  that  by  the  aid 
he  had  given  the  government  in  the  last  few  months,  he  had 
deserved  from  it  more  than  all  it  could  bestow.  Nothing 
could  long  satisfy  a  man  who  inherited  his  father's  colossal 
greed,  and  joined  to  it  a  pride  and  lust  for  power  peculiar 
to  himself.  Both  Cond6  and  all  others  overestimated  the 
real  value  of  his  assistance.  He  had  the  power  which  be- 
longed to  his  position  as  first  prince  of  the  blood,  and  that 
power  was  great.  He  had  vast  possessions,  large  terri- 
torial  influence,  and  the  reputation  that  comes  from  bril- 
liant victories.  All  those  things  made  him  important  in 
the  state,  but  not  all-important.  In  the  greater  part  of 
France  he  had  no  popular  support,  and  he  excited  no  pop- 
ular enthusiasm.  He  had  won  battles,  indeed,  and  shown 
that  reckless  valor  and  brilliant  audacity  which  excites 
more  admiration  than  the  achievements  of  a  soldier  like 
Turenne.  But  the  glamour  of  Lens  and  Rocroi  was  over- 
shadowed by  Condi's  pride,  arrogance,  and  greed.  In  a 
time  when  few  generals  cared  for  the  misery  and  ruin  of 
the  people,  Cond6  cared  least  of  all.     Not  only  the  hard- 


40        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND   MAZARIN. 

ships  that  were  caused  by  the  siege  of  Paris,  but  the  cruel- 
ties practised  and  the  devastation  wrought  on  French  soil 
as  freely  as  if  it  were  German,  inflamed  the  popular  mind 
against  him.  The  country  around  Paris  had  been  devas- 
tated and  the  fields  laid  bare,  men  murdered,  and  women 
violated.'  At  Charenton  it  was  said  that  Condi's  troops 
threw  some  of  the  prisoners  into  the  Seine,  which  there 
flows  towards  Paris,  saying :  "  Go,  and  see  your  Parlia- 
ment." Some  were  stripped  and  left  naked  in  the  cold, 
and  Mile,  of  Orleans  sent  money  with  which  to  clothe 
them  from  her  own  pocket. 

Cond^  visited  Paris  after  the  peace,  but  his  vulture  face 
was  seen  with  aversion  by  the  people,  who  despised  him 
as  the  supporter  of  Mazarin,  and  hated  him  as  a  man  ad- 
dicted to  cruelty,  the  one  vice  from  which  they  acknowl- 
edged Mazarin  was  free."  The  women  in  the  streets 
shrieked  insolent  words  at  his  carriage  as  it  passed,  and 
reproached  him  with  the  misery  which  they  had  suffered 
during  the  siege.  He  continued,  however,  to  exercise  a 
great  influence  at  Court.  The  chief  Frondeurs  paid  their 
respects  to  the  regent,  but  they  were  received  with  chilling 
coolness  by  Anne,  who  disliked  to  conceal  her  animosities. 
Mme.  de  Longueville,  we  are  told,  being  naturally  timid 
and  likely  to  blush,  was  so  impressed  at  her  reception 
that  it  was  with  difficulty  that  she  said  any  thing  to  the 
queen.'  The  regent  and  the  great  frondeuse  had  been 
unfriendly  before  they  met,  and  they  parted  with  in- 
creased dislike.  Retz  also  waited  upon  the  regent,  but  he 
insisted  that  his  position  at  Paris  would  be  imperilled  by 
his  visiting  the  cardinal,  though  the  queen  pressed  him  to 
do  so,  with  much  ill-humor  at  his  refusal. 

Some  brawls  at  Paris,  in  themselves  of  little  importance, 
excited  an  undue  amount  of  popular  interest.  At  the  end 
of  the  present  garden  of  the  Tuileries,  Renard  then 
had  a  garden  and  restaurant  where  the  Place  de  la  Con- 

'  Ormesson,  739,     Journal  du  Parlement,  passim. 

*  Talon,  359.  Dis.  Ven.,  cix.,  43,  April  20th  :  "  Senza  applauso,  ma  con 
striddi  de  tutto  il  populo,"  etc.  •  Motteville,  274. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  4 1 

corde  is  now.  There,  on  the  terrace,  the  great  nobles 
lounged,  supped  for  two  pistoles  a  plate,  talked  gossip  and 
politics.'  There  Jarz^,  a  nobleman  of  small  importance, 
met  with  some  companions,  among  whom  was  the  Duke 
•of  Candale,  a  son  of  the  Duke  of  Epernon,  and  also  a  de- 
formed dwarf,  who  was  to  become  the  great  Marshal  of 
Luxembourg. 

They  sounded  the  praises  of  Mazarin  and  Cond^  amid 
the  strumming  of  the  violins  and  the  cracking  of  the  bot- 
tles. They  had  added  some  raillery  upon  the  Duke  of 
Beaufort,  and  the  king  of  the  Fronde  and  of  the  markets 
felt  that  this  his  dignity  could  not  suffer.  He  appeared 
at  one  of  those  suppers  with  a  large  body  of  followers, 
and  after  some  words  of  dispute,  he  seized  the  cloth  and 
pulled  it  from  the  table,  throwing  dishes  and  bottles  in 
one  common  ruin.  A  scuffle  followed  in  which  no  one 
was  seriously  hurt,  but  the  followers  of  the  two  parties 
were  excited  to  great  animosity  by  this  brawl." 

Such  exploits  only  increased  the  popularity  of  Beaufort 
among  the  populace  of  Paris.  When  shortly  afterwards 
he  fell  sick,  there  was  a  procession  of  people  all  day  long 
at  the  Hotel  Vendome,  to  get  news  of  his  condition.  It 
was  said  that  two  thousand  women  visited  him  in  one 
day.  Many,  throwing  themselves  on  their  knees,  prayed 
that  health  might  be  restored  to  their  father  and  libera- 
tor. When  he  played  at  the  tennis  court  the  milk-women 
clamored  for  admission.  "  Play  boldly,"  one  cried  to  him  ; 
"  you  shall  never  lack  for  money.  My  gossip  and  I  have 
brought  you  two  hundred  crowns,  and  if  you  need  more 
we  will  go  for  it."  ' 

Another  street  encounter  is  one  of  the  many  proofs  of 
the  lawlessness  of  the  times.  Some  Frondeurs,  filled  with 
wine  and  patriotism  from  dining  at  Termes,  started  in 
search  of  those  riotous  adventures  which  were  freely  in- 
dulged in  by  reckless  and  dissipated  young  nobles,  and 

'  See  Joly,  23.     Ormesson,  746.     Molteville,  279.     Relz,  ii.,  137-8. 

*  Motteville,  279,  280.     Joly,  23.      Retz,  ii.,  137,  140.     Talon,  359. 

*  Joly,  23,  24.  Leltres  de  Gui  Patin,  vol.  i.,  p.  43  :  "  in  numero  infinite 
corsero  alia  sua  habitatione,"  Dis  Ven.,  cix.,  55. 


42         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIX. 

which  helped  to  make  a  walk  through  the  streets  of  Paris, 
by  night  as  alarming  a  journey  for  the  peaceful  shopkeeper, 
as  an  excursion  among  the  banditti  of  Sicily.  They  met 
with  some  lackeys  whose  uniform  showed  that  they  were 
of  the  king's  household,  and  this  would  ordinarily  have  pro- 
tected them  from  assault.  But  the  Frondeurs  said  kings 
were  no  longer  in  fashion,  and  they  attacked  the  unlucky 
valets  and  beat  them  unmercifully,  bidding  them  go  and 
tell  the  queen  and  Mazarin.' 

For  publishing  a  very  gross  and  vulgar  libel  upon  the 
regent,  one  Morlot  had  been  condemned  to  death.  But 
when  he  was  taken  to  the  Gr^ve,  the  mob  charged  the 
officers,  crying  :  "  Down  with  the  Mazarinites  !  "  Morlot 
was  rescued,  and  left  the  officers  to  escape  from  the  mob 
with  difficulty." 

All  these  insults  to  the  royal  authority  irritated  Anne 
of  Austria,  but  she  could  not  attack  and  punish  them. 
The  Court  was  said  by  one  of  its  members  to  have  beert 
in  a  sad  plight.  To  the  usual  disorders  of  the  treasury, 
were  added  the  difficulties  of  collecting  the  taxes  in  many 
of  the  provinces.  Even  the  royal  table  was  poorly  fur- 
nished. Some  of  the  crown  jewels  were  in  pawn,  and  the 
young  pages  were  sent  to  their  homes  because  there  was 
no  money  to  pay  them.' 

These  disturbances  affected  the  armies,  where  the  pay 
of  the  soldiers  was  more  irregular  than  usual.  The  ratifi- 
cations of  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  had  been  exchanged 
in  February,  with  a  provision  that  France  should  be 
released  from  the  promised  payment  of  three  million 
livres  for  Alsace,  until  Spain  had  consented  to  its  cession. 
With  Spain  itself  no  peace  could  be  made.  Mazarin 
would  not  grant  more  favorable  terms  on  account  of  the 
internal  disturbances,  while  the  Spanish  hoped  much  from 
the  Frondeurs  and  desired  no  peace,  except  on  conditions 
far  more  advantageous  than  those  which  were  offered. 
"  If    I    am    reviled,"    the   cardinal   wrote   in    his  private 

'  Motteville,  283.    Talon,  361. 
*  Registres  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  ii.,  34.  *  Motteville,  284. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  43 

minutes,  "  having  served  as  I  have  done,  what  would  be 
said  of  me  if  I  consented  to  disgraceful  terms  of  peace. 
They  would  say  from  my  own  desire  for  vengeance  I  had 
obliged  the  queen  to  sacrifice  the  interests  of  the  king."  ' 

Notwithstanding  the  troubles  in  the  provinces  and  the 
lawlessness  in  Paris,  Mazarin  did  not  abandon  the  war 
against  Spain.  Conde  had  declined  the  command  of  the 
army,  anticipating,  perhaps,  little  glory  from  the  cam- 
paign, and  it  was  entrusted  to  the  experienced  Count  of 
Harcourt.  Ypres  had  been  captured  by  the  archduke, 
and  it  was  decided  to  lay  siege  to  the  important  city  of 
Cambray  as  an  offset  to  this  loss.  The  cardinal  took 
great  interest  in  this  endeavor.  He  wrote  Tellier  it  was 
a  matter  of  life  and  death  that  money  should  be  raised  to 
proceed  with  the  siege,  and  that  the  Crown  jewels  and  his 
own  would  be  pledged  if  any  one  could  be  found  to  loan  on 
them.'  Cambray  was  attacked  on  June  24th,  but  on  July 
3d  the  archduke  succeeded  in  throwing  reinforcements 
into  the  place,  and  Harcourt  abandoned  the  siege."  The 
news  of  this  defeat  was  received  with  open  exultation  by 
the  enemies  of  the  Court,  who  preferred  national  disaster 
to  Mazarin's  prosperity.*  The  cardinal  was  greatly  disap- 
pointed by  these  reverses,  and,  though  ordinarily  smiling 
and  impassible  in  times  of  ill-success,  he  showed  his  dis- 
comfiture openly.' 

Mazarin  went  to  St.  Quentin  in  order  to  visit  the  army 

'  Garnets,  xi.,  96. 

*  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  359-374.  These  letters  show  the  curious  shifts 
to  which  a  government  turned  when  it  had  an  army  and  had  no  ready 
money.  The  Garnets  show  the  same  interest — xii.,  53:  "  Envoyer  M.  le 
Gomte  d'Arcourt  pour  commander  1'  armee  et  la  fayre  partir  i  plustot," 
53-6,  boet  seq.,  are  full  of  the  schemes  for  raising  money.    . 

*  Montglat,2i3.   Dis.  Ven.,  cix.,  103,  109,  114.    Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  375. 

*  Dis  Ven.,  c\x.,  passim. 

*  In  his  letters  to  Le  Tellier  (Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii.  375-6)  Mazarin  ex- 
presses his  disappointment,  and  also  criticises  Harcourt's  conduct.  "  But,"  he 
says,  "we  must  be  careful  not  to  speak  of  it,  lest  the  leaders  of  our  troops 
may  think  we  mistrust  them.  We  must  even  see  in  what  manner  this  matter 
is  discussed  in  the  Gazette."  See  also  letters  published  in  Mole,  iv.,  348,  356, 
July,  1649. 


44         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

personally.  The  German  mercenaries,  formerly  com- 
manded by  Turenne,  were  there,  having  been  brought 
from  Flanders  under  the  command  of  General  Erlach. 
Mazarin  entertained  their  principal  officers,  and  they  all 
became  exceedingly  drunk,  in  conformity,  as  we  are  told, 
with  the  German  custom.' 

Harcourt  resumed  the  campaign,  notwithstanding 
the  check  at  Cambray,  captured  the  town  of  Cond^, 
and  devastated  the  neighboring  territory,  but  dissen- 
sions and  want  of  money  prevented  a  considerable  suc- 
cess, although  the  French  were  superior  in  numbers.*  In 
Catalonia,  the  Spanish  had  hoped  to  profit  by  the 
weakness  of  the  French  government  to  regain  much  of 
the  territory  they  had  lost  ;  but  the  inhabitants  of  the 
province,  seeing  that  France  could  do  little  for  them, 
furnished  money  and  troops  freely  for  the  country  of 
their  adoption,  and  the  Spanish  made  but  small  progress.* 

In  the  unsettled  condition  of  Paris,  with  the  violent 
hostility  to  the  cardinal  that  was  manifested,  the  regent 
hesitated  about  returning  to  the  city.  But  the  absence 
of  the  king  was  a  constant  irritation.  The  populace 
missed  the  outward  display  of  royalty,  and  the  bourgeoisie 
missed  the  trade  of  the  Court.*  It  did  not  seem  that  this 
condition  of  affairs  would  improve  while  the  king  re- 
mained away,  and,  on  the  i8th  of  August,  he  made  a  sol- 
emn entry  into  Paris.  Nothing  showed  more  clearly  that 
the  popular  feeling  had  been  only  a  caprice,  and  had  rested 
on  no  strong  convictions,  than  that  the  return  of  the 
regent  was  received  with  frenzied  enthusiasm.  An  enor- 
mous multitude  followed  the  king's  carriage,  and  it  could 
hardly  pass  through  the  crowd.  The  windows  and  roofs 
were  alive  with  people  ;  flags  and  decorations  covered  the 
houses  ;  and  at  evening  bonfires  proclaimed  the  public 
joy,  around  which  the  inhabitants  passed  the  night,  drink- 
ing the  health  of  their  majesties.     Even  Mazarin,  who 

'  See  Mazarin's  letters  from  St.  Quentin  to  Le  Tellier,  of  July  23,  et  seq. 
Letlres,  tome  iii.   Mole,  iv.,  351-3.        *  Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii  ,  3S1,  et  pas. 
*  Montglat,  214-216.  *  Dis.  Ven.,  cix.,  132,  et  passim. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  45 

rode  in  the  king's  carriage,  was  greeted  with  no  more  un- 
friendly words  than  the  frequent  remark,  "  There  is 
Mazarin."  It  was  perhaps  true,  as  Retz  said,  that  they 
were  received  as  kings  always  have  been  and  always  will 
be  received,  with  acclamations  signifying  nothing;  and 
that  those  who  applauded  to-day  would  be  ready  to  con- 
demn on  the  morrow — to  cry,  "  Down  with  Mazarin ! " 
and  to  gossip  about  Madame  Anne.' 

To  the  queen  this  unexpected  reception  was  the  more 
gratifying,  because  her  return  had  been  delayed  by  the  fear 
of  personal  danger  to  Mazarin.  Instead  of  finding  him- 
self in  danger  of  assault,  the  cardinal  went  in  safety,  with 
a  scanty  escort,  through  all  parts  of  the  city.  The  boat- 
men of  the  Seine  gave  a  fete  in  his  honor.  Others  talked 
of  his  beauty,  and  drank  deeply  to  his  health.' 

The  annoyances  of  the  minister  sprang  less  from  his 
enemies  than  from  his  protector.  Condi's  demands  con- 
stantly grew  larger.  His  insolence  was  more  open,  and 
his  contempt  for  the  minister  was  less  disguised.  He  was 
attended  by  flatterers,  and  followed  by  a  body  of  young 
nobles,  whose  only  political  principle  was  a  childish  adula- 
tion of  the  Prince  of  Cond^.  They  aped  his  grandiose 
manners,  and  as  they  styled  the  prince  "  The  Master," 
they  were  themselves  dubbed  by  the  people,  "  Petits 
Maitres,"  the  little  masters.  Anxious  as  Mazarin  was 
for  Condi's  aid,  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  give  all  the 
prince  asked,  nor  probably  all  that  he  himself  had  prom- 
ised, for  the  minister  promised  too  freely  to  perform  fully. 
Condi's  jealousy  was  also  excited  by  the  endeavors  of 
Mazarin  to  strengthen  himself  by  matrimonial  alliances, 
and  by  the  part  which  Mazarin's  nieces  began  to  play  in 
the  politics  of  the  day. 

The  experience  of  the  last  year  had  convinced  the  car- 
dinal that  he  must  seek  support  from  powerful  alliances, 
and  his  nieces  were  now  nearing  the  age  when  they  could 

'  R'etz,  vol.  ii.,  149-150,  Montglat,  218-219.  Moiteville,  289,  Supple- 
ment to  Ormesson,  761-762,     Dis,  Ven.,  cix.,  150. 

'  Motteville,  supra,  and  yournal de  la  Biblioth^que,  Aug.,  1649. 


46         FRANCE  UNDER   R /CHE LIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

be  used  in  political  combinations.  For  five  years  after  he 
had  become  chief  minister,  Mazarin  remained  an  isolated 
man.  He  had  no  relatives  in  France,  and  he  brought 
none  of  his  kinsmen  from  Italy  to  share  his  prosperity ; 
on  the  contrary,  he  pointed  to  this  as  one  of  the  proofs 
of  his  disinterestedness  in  public  affairs.  For  himself  he 
wished  nothing,  and  he  desired  to  have  around  him  only 
the  servants  of  the  king.  The  beautiful  statues  from 
Rome,  with  which  his  palace  was  filled,  he  declared  to  be 
the  only  kinsmen  he  wished  to  bring  from  Italy. 

His  affection  for  his  family  was,  however,  strong,  and 
he  had  used  the  diplomacy  and  power  of  France  to  make 
his  brother  a  cardinal.  From  this  brother  he  received  lit- 
tle thanks,  and  less  assistance,  while  nothing  he  had  done 
excited  such  hostile  criticism  as  his  efforts  for  this  begging 
friar. 

Such  a  storm  of  abuse  discouraged  any  desire  to  bring 
his  father  or  sisters  to  France,  but  the  younger  members 
of  his  family  seemed  possible  elements  of  strength. 

Having  been  chief  minister  for  nearly  five  years,  firmly 
established  in  the  queen's  affections  and  apparently  firmly 
established  in  power,  he  made  his  first  experiment  in  trans- 
planting his  family.  Mazarin's  two  sisters  had  married 
Roman  gentlemen  of  fair  position.  The  one,  Signora 
Martinozzi,  was  a  widow  with  two  daughters.  The  other 
sister,  Signora  Mancini,  had  been  blest  with  ten  children. 

In  1647  the  cardinal  sent  Mme.  de  Noailles  to  Rome 
to  bring  to  him  the  elder  Martinozzi,  and  two  daughters 
and  one  son  of  the  Mancini.  These  children  were  from 
seven  to  thirteen  years  oi  age.  Though  they  were  re- 
quired to  go  to  a  foreign  land  to  which  their  mothers 
were  not  bidden,  there  was  no  hesitancy  in  sending  them 
to  the  brilliant  lot  that  would  there  await  the  adopted 
children  and  heirs  of  the  great  cardinal.  In  September 
they  arrived  at  Fontainebleau,  and  were  gazed  at  with  cu- 
rious eyes  as  children  probably  destined  to  brilliant  and 
extraordinary  fortunes.  Laura  Mancini,  the  eldest,  was 
a  handsome  brunette  of  twelve  or  thirteen.     Olympe  was 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  47 

also  dark,  with  a  long  face  and  pointed  chin.  Anne  Marie 
Martinozzi  was  a  blonde,  with  soft,  pleasing  eyes,  and  feat- 
ures giving  a  promise,  not  to  be  unfulfilled,  of  great  beauty. 
The  queen  received  the  children  affably.  They  were  given 
for  their  governess  Mme.  de  Sen6c6,  a  lady  of  great  rank, 
who  had  been  the  governess  of  Louis  XIV.  The  courtiers 
crowded  around  them,  and  speculated  as  to  their  future 
fate,  and  they  at  once  began  a  life  differing  little  from  that 
of  those  of  the  blood  royal.  The  boy  was  educated  by  the 
Jesuits  at  the  college  of  Clermont,  receiving  as  much  def- 
erence as  a  Cond6  or  Vcndome.'  Anne  of  Austria  often 
took  the  nieces  to  her  favorite  resort,  Val  de  Grace,  and 
herself  directed  their  devotions. 

The  arrival  of  the  Italian  family  of  the  cardinal  fur- 
nished abundant  material  for  the  wits  and  libellers  of  the 
Fronde.  They  said  that  he  had  brought  from  Rome  lit- 
tle beggars,  and  had  these  Mazarinettes  educated  in  the 
king's  palace  with  all  the  state  of  princes  of  the  blood.* 
Their  persons  were  spared  as  little  as  their  birth.  They 
had  the  eyes  of  an  owl,  the  skin  of  a  cabbage,  the  eye- 
brows of  a  condemned  soul,  and  the  complexion  of  a  chim- 
ney.* "  Your  nieces,"  wrote  another  scribbler,  "  those 
•dumpy  monkeys,  were  born  paupers,  and,  worse  than  the 
Goths  of  old,  have  bidden  adieu  to  their  beggarly  parents 
to  be  married  to  Candales  and  Richelieus."* 

These  young  adventurers  soon  met  with  some  of  the 
vicissitudes  of  their  lot.  Only  a  few  months  after  their 
arrival  began  the  troubles  of  the  Fronde,  and  during  the 
retirement  of  the  Court  from  Paris,  the  nieces  were  depos- 

'  Mem.  de  Motteville :  Lettre  du  P6re  Michel,  Feb.  19,  1649,  published 
in  Renee,  "  Nieces  de  Mazarin,"  41. 

•Choix  des  Mazarinades,  vol.  i.,  50,  56,  104.  Renee,  page  56,  gives  the 
title  of  sixteen  of  these  Mazarinades,  devoted  to  the  nieces,  and  mostly 
printed  in  1649.  "  Regrets  of  the  nieces  of  Mazarin  over  the  evil  life  of  their 
uncle,"  is  the  title  of  one,  and  gives  a  fair  sample  of  the  ottiers.  One  bit  of 
doggerel  ran  :  "  Adieu,  uncle  of  the  Mazarinettes.  Adieu,  father  of  the  Mar- 
ionettes. Adieu,  drinker  of  lemonades  and  inventor  of  pomades.  Con- 
•chino,  Conchini,  True  rhyme  to  Mazarini." 

*  Satyre  sur  le  Grand  Adieu  des  Nieces  de  Mazarin  k  la  France,  1649. 

*Le  ministre  d'etal  flambe,  1651. 


48         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

ited  with  the  Sisters  at  the  Val  de  Grace.  But  after  the 
peace  of  Ruel,  Mazarin  turned  his  thoughts  to  the  mar- 
riage of  the  eldest,  Laura  Mancini,  who  was  now  fifteen 
years  old,  and  had  the  early  maturity  of  children  of  south- 
ern climates. 

"  Les  Mancini,  les  Martinosses, 
Illustres  mati^res  de  noces, " 

a  poet  of  the  Fronde  justly  called  them,  and  Mazarin,  like 
many  Italian  ecclesiastics,  knew  the  advantage  of  leading 
a  flying  squadron  of  beauties. 

There  had  been  thoughts  of  the  Duke  of  Candale,  the 
heir  of  the  wealthy  and  powerful  Duke  of  Epernon,  for 
one  of  these  children,  but  Candale  was  content  with  the 
role  of  a  Lothario,  for  which  his  rank  and  great  beauty 
fitted  him,  and  he  delayed  matrimony.  A  still  more  in- 
viting alliance  was  offered  in  the  house  of  Vendome.  The 
Duke  of  Mercoeur  was  a  young  man  of  high  degree.  His 
father,  the  Duke  of  Vendome,  was  weary  of  opposition, 
and  ready  to  receive  in  peace  such  good  things  as  the  car- 
dinal would  give  to  those  allied  to  his  family.  Through 
Mercoeur  Mazarin  hoped  to  be  able  to  oppose  the  influ- 
ence of  Vendome  to  that  of  Conde,  and  to  gain  MerccEur's 
brother,  Beaufort,  although  that  blonde  Catiline  was  still 
entirely  governed  by  Mme.  de  Montbazon. 

The  marriage  was  agreed  upon.'  Vendome  was  to  re- 
ceive the  admiralty.  Mercoeur  was  to  have  for  dowry  six 
hundred  thousand  livres  and  the  first  vacant  government. 
Cond^  had  consented  to  this  alliance,  but,  as  the  time  for 
it  approached,  he  became  opposed  to  a  step  that  would 
make  Mazarin  less  dependent  and  Vendome  more  power- 
ful." 

The  cardinal  desired  to  have  the  marriage  celebrated  in 
the  latter  part  of  September,  and  Conde  was  asked  to  sign 
the  contract.  He  answejed  that  he  was  not  related  to  the 
parties,  and  his  signature  was  not  needed.  He  complained 
also  that   the   cardinal  had  failed  to  obtain  for  him  some 

'  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  May  25,  1649,  t.  iii.,  1113,  et passitn. 
'  Camet,  xii. ,  69,  70. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  49 

German  possession,  which  was  to  have  been  purchased 
from  the  House  of  Wurtemberg,  and  he  demanded  with 
renewed  zeal  the  government  of  Pont  de  I'Arche  for 
Longueville,  an  office  which  would  have  increased  the 
power  of  that  duke  in  Normandy,  where  it  already  over- 
shadowed the  authority  of  the  king,'  As  Mazarin  was 
strenuous  in  his  refusal  to  this,  Cond6  left  the  room  in 
wrath.' 

The  news  of  this  rupture  was  instantly  noised  about  the 
Court  and  town,  and  by  the  next  morning,  September 
i6th,  the  leaders  of  the  Fronde  were  at  Condi's  palace, 
zealous  with  proffers  of  aid,  and  eager  to  enlist  him  as 
their  commander.  Cond6  was  equally  full  of  professions 
of  zeal  and  sympathy,  but  fresh  endeavors  were  made  at 
a  reconciliation.  La  Riviere  acted  as  chief  mediator,  and 
on  the  17th  a  new  peace  was  made;  the  regent  yielded 
Pont  de  I'Arche,  and  it  was  said  that  Cond^  was  to  have 
the  sale  of  offices  worth  almost  a  million  of  livres,  while 
neither  Venddme  nor  Mercoeur  was  to  be  admiral.  Cond^ 
told  his  sister  that  Mazarin  and  himself  were  now  but  two 
heads  under  one  bonnet,  but  she  answered  him  that  such 
vacillation  would  presently  leave  him  with  neither  friends 
nor  good  name. 

On  the  night  of  the  17th  Mazarin  supped  with  the 
prince  as  a  pledge  of  reconciliation.  The  feast  was  a  sad 
one,  and  while  all  the  guests  were  melancholy,  the  cardi- 
nal was  the  most  melancholy  of  all.  The  prince  also  was 
serious,  and  found  his  only  relaxation  in  slightly  concealed 
sneers  at  the  minister.* 

This  hollow  truce  was  little  regarded,  and  the  prince 
continued  caballing  with  the  Fronde.  But  the  govern- 
ment was  not  strong  enough  to  brave  the  united  forces  of 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  ex.,  17,  Sept.  21,  1649. 

•  Motteville,  296,  297.  Retz,  ii.,  153.  Le  Tellier  visited  the  prince  to  see 
if  his  resentment  could  be  cooled,  but  he  bade  him  tell  the  cardinal  that  he 
should  no  longer  be  his  friend,  he  would  no  more  attend  the  council,  and 
instead  of  being  the  cardinal's  protector  as  heretofore,  he  could  be  counted 
as  his  bitterest  enemy.  See  letters  published  in  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  409, 
411.  'Lenet,  197,  198.     Dis.  Ven.,  ex,  18,  21,  letters  cited  above. 


50        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Cond6,  Retz,  Beaufort,  and  their  followers,  and  so  abso- 
lute a  surrender  was  made,  that  even  Cond6  could  ask  no 
more.  On  October  2d  Mazarin  signed  a  written  agree- 
ment, which  was  deposited  with  M0I6  for  safe-keeping,  by 
which  Cond6  became  almost  a  dictator.  That  a  perfect 
understanding  might  exist  with  the  prince,  it  recited,  and 
that  her  majesty  might  show  her  affection  and  confidence, 
Mazarin  promised,  at  her  request,  that  no  one  should  be 
appointed  to  any  government,  or  to  any  important  office  at 
the  Court  or  in  the  army,  nor  should  any  resolution  be  taken 
on  any  important  question  of  state,  unless  the  advice  of 
Cond6  was  first  asked.  His  friends  and  servants  were  to 
be  remembered  when  any  vacancy  occurred,  and  Mazarin 
promised  that  neither  his  nephew  nor  any  of  his  nieces 
should  be  married  unless  the  prince  was  first  consulted. 
In  consideration  of  this  agreement  Cond^  promised  his 
friendship  to  Mazarin,  and  that  he  would  serve  him  in  his 
plans  against  all  opponents.' 

Cond^  had  secured  a  great  influence,  but  he  had  obtained 
it  by  the  alienation  of  the  Frondeurs,  who  felt  that  he  had 
used  them,  deceived  them,  and  abandoned  them  when  his 
own  interests  required."  At  his  request,  made  to  please  his 
sister,  the  tabouret  was  granted  to  Mme.  de  Pons  and  to 
the  wife  of  the  Prince  of  Marcillac ;  while  to  the  latter 
himself  was  given  the  right  to  enter  the  court  of  the 
Louvre  in  his  carriage.' 

Such  concessions  may  not  seem  of  importance,  but  they 
excited  the  whole  nobility  of  France.  The  tabouret  was 
a  .stool,  and  the  right  of  the  tabouret  was  the  right  to  sit 
in  the  presence  of  the  king  and  queen.  This  privilege  was 
as  much  valued  as  the  right  of  the  Spanish  grandees  to 

*Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  864,  p.  243,  Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  410-412. 

These  agreements,  reduced  to  writing  and  signed,  are  found  in  Lenet,  204, 
205.     Their  terms  were  not  then  made  public.     Retz,  ii.,  155. 

These  intrigues  are  fully  and  accurately  described  in  a  Ms.  memoir 
printed  in  the  Journal  d'Ormesson,  i.,  792-799.  The  Venetian  ambassador 
states  the  results,  t.  ex.,  29,  et passim,  and  calls  it  a  capitulation  "  con  grande 
pregiudizio  della  Reggenza  e  discredito  considerabile  di  sua  Eminenza." 

*  Motteville,  304.     Joly,  26.  '  Dis.  Ven.,  ex.,  29. 


I 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  5 1 

remain  covered  in  their  sovereign's  presence,  and  it  was 
claimed  that  it  belonged  only  to  wives  of  princes  or  of 
dukes.  In  the  profuse  times  of  the  regency,  honors  had  been 
scattered  as  freely  as  pensions,  and  now  the  tabouret  was 
granted  to  the  wife  of  a  son  of  a  duke,  and  to  a  lady  who 
had  only  a  fictitious  claim  to  belong  to  the  princely  house 
of  Albret.  The  aristocracy  of  France  resolved  to  act  to- 
gether in  this  crisis.  They  had  regarded  the  Fronde  as  a 
laughing  war.  They  had  been  indifferent  to  the  peace  of 
Westphalia,  and  had  sneered  at  the  attempts  at  Parlia- 
mentary reform.  They  had  regarded  any  popular  cause 
or  popular  measure  of  as  little  importance  as  the  pedigree 
of  a  Parisian  shop-keeper,  but  they  were  stirred  to  their 
depths  by  the  question  of  footstools.  The  nobles  would 
suffer  arbitrary  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille  without 
complaint,  but  their  souls  revolted  against  another  sitting 
while  they  stood.  The  whole  nobility  of  the  kingdom 
were  invited  to  join  in  so  just  a  cause,  and  a  large  assem- 
blage of  gentlemen,  not  only  from  Paris  but  from  the 
provinces,  met  to  consider  these  dangerous  innovations. 
A  written  agreement  was  presented  by  which,  after 
reciting  that  as  the  nobles  were  the  only  true  and  firm 
support  of  the  monarchy  they  must  be  united,  they  bound 
themselves  to  stand  by  one  another  in  every  measure  of 
just  resentment  against  the  granting  of  privileges  that 
belonged  to  princes,  to  those  who  were  not  of  princely 
families,  and  against  the  granting  of  princely  rank  to 
those  who  were  not  of  princely  birth.  Whoever  de- 
serted them  in  this  union,  should  be  regarded  as  a  man 
without  faith  or  honor  and  no  gentleman.  This  declara- 
tion of  their  rights  was  signed  by  many  dukes  and  mar- 
shals, and  by  a  long  list  of  the  historical  and  noble  names 
of  France.  A  delegation  was  sent  to  ask  from  the  queen 
protection  for  their  privileges.  They  met  with  a  friendly 
reception.  Anne  was  pleased  that  Cond^,  by  persisting 
in  his  demands  for  one  or  two  of  his  friends,  had  brought 
upon  himself  the  hostility  of  the  whole  nobility  of  France. 
She  received  the  deputation  with  affability,  and  acceded 


52        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

to  their  requests.  The  tabourets  were  to  be  withdrawn 
from  Marcillac  and  Pons  and  from  others  who  had  im- 
properly received  them  during  the  regency.'  Only  to 
those  who  were  princes  by  birth  should  that  rank  be  al- 
lowed, though  as  the  rights  of  the  Duke  of  Bouillon  had 
obtained  recognition  from  the  Pope,  they  were  reserved. 
With  such  promises  the  nobles  were  content,  and  the  as- 
semblage dispersed,  equally  satisfied  with  the  regent  and 
dissatisfied  with  the  Prince  of  Cond^." 

A  still  more  serious  complication  engaged  the  attention 
of  the  government.  The  rentes  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville 
were  the  portions  of  the  national  indebtedness  which  were 
most  carefully  paid.  They  were  held  in  large  quantities 
by  the  bourgeois  of  Paris,  and  their  amount  was  regarded 
as  a  proof  alike  of  the  prodigality  of  the  goverment  and 
the  wealth  of  the  city.  Many  families  in  moderate  cir- 
cumstances depended  for  their  entire  income  upon  the 
payment  of  those  rentes,  and  any  failure  reduced  then;  at 
once  to  actual  distress.  They  were  secured  by  the  duties 
upon  salt,  which  were  considered  the  most  certain  revenues 
of  the  state.  It  had  been  solemnly  agreed  by  the  farmers 
of  those  taxes,  that  the  rentes,  which  were  already  in  ar- 
rears from  the  disturbances  the  last  year,  should  now  be 
regularly  paid.  But  in  those  disordered  times,  the  rigor- 
ous laws  which  punished  any  evasion  of  the  salt  duty 
were  openly  violated,  and  contraband  salt-makers  were 
protected  by  the  sentiment  of  the  people.  It  was  now 
autumn,  the  season  for  salting  provisions,  when  the  re- 
ceipts from  the  gabelle  were  ordinarily  the  largest.  But 
the  government  warehouses  in  many  of  the  provinces,  and 
even  in  the  district  of  Paris,  had  but  scanty  sales.  Bands 
of  discharged  soldiers,  of  deserters,  and  of  ruined  and  des~ 
perate  peasants,  sold  contraband  salt  at  prices  far  below 
government  figures.  It  was  openly  sold  at  the  fairs,  at  the 
very  church  doors,  like  an  article  of  ordinary  merchandise. 

'  Aff.  Etr.  France,  t.  867,  p.  121. 

•  Montglat,  219,  221.  Talon,  366-368,  Motteville,  303-311.  Dis.  Ven. 
ex.  30,  37,  et passim.     Journal  de  Dubuisson  Aubenay,  Oct.  4-13. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  53 

Hanging  some  of  the  contraband  dealers,  and  sending 
some  to  the  galleys,  did  not  discourage  others,  and  the 
offenders  were  sometimes  rescued  by  the  mob  from  the 
officers  who  endeavored  to  arrest  them.' 

There  was,  perhaps,  sufficient  excuse  for  the  failure  of 
the  tax  farmers  to  pay  the  rentes,  and  the  government 
could  not  help  them.  But  the  rentiers  none  the  less 
excited  a  fierce  commotion  at  this  repeated  public  bank- 
ruptcy. The  Parliament  ordered  the  farmers  to  pay 
the  sums  agreed,  but  the  government  sought  to  protect 
them.  Meetings  were  held  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and 
twelve  syndics  were  chosen  to  attend  to  righting  the 
wrongs  of  the  rentiers.  When  the  matter  was  brought 
before  the  Parliament  early  in  December,  excited  crowds 
gathered  around  the  courts  threatening  violence  and 
breeding  confusion.  Retz  and  the  leading  Frondeurs 
were  active  in  directing  this  popular  disturbance.  The 
coadjutor  had  been  profuse  in  benefactions  among  the 
poor,  to  preserve  his  great  influence  at  Paris,  and  he  now 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  middle  class  on  the  question  of 
rentes.  Emeri  had  again  been  made  superintendent  of 
the  finances,  but  their  condition  was  such  that  his  restor- 
ation was  received  with  indifference,  if  not  with  favor.' 
He  had  afforded  some  relief  to  the  rentiers,  but  it  was 
only  partial,  and  the  feeling  was  such  that  at  any  sudden 
commotion  barricades  might  again  arise  in  the  streets,  and 
Paris  be  given  over  to  open  violence. 

The  Frondeurs  desired  that  an  assembly  should  be 
called  of  all  the  chambers  of  the  Parliament,  for  thus  they 
could  most  easily  obtain  the  cooperation  of  that  body  in 
violent  proceedings.  During  the  autumn  the  judges  had 
shown  little  inclination  to  favor  the  measures  of  those 
who  desired  new  turmoils,  and  their  cooperation  was  much 
desired.*    Acting  with  the  Parliament,  those  who  otherwise 

'  Gazette,  1649,  passim.     Talon,  368-9.     Ordinance,  July  6,  1649. 

*Dis.  Ven.,  ex.,  68,  69. 

*Dis.  Ven.,  ex.,  49,  82,  et  passim.  "Li  malcontenti  non  hanno  quel 
seguito  ne  quell'  applauso  che  sarebbe  necessario  a  suoi  torbidi  fini." — Dis., 
Oet.  26th. 


54  FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

would  be  regarded  as  seditious  tribunesof  the  people,  would 
become  the  defenders  of  the  widow  and  orphan.'  To  create 
an  excitement  that  should  compel  such  an  assembly,  a  ficti- 
tious scheme  of  violence  was  concocted.  Wise,  possibly, 
after  its  failure  Retz  claims  that  he  advised  against  the  plan.* 
It  was  decided  that  a  feigned  attempt  at  assassination 
should  be  made  upon  some  one  who  had  been  sufficiently 
active  in  the  public  interests  to  arouse  popular  excite- 
ment. It  was  not  easy,  however,  to  find  a  person  who 
was  willing  to  expose  himself  to  a  pretended  assassination 
that  might  prove  a  real  one.  Among  the  syndics  of  the 
rentiers,  one  Guy  Joly,  a  devoted  follower  of  Retz,  had 
become  the  leader  through  his  activity  and  zeal.  He  now 
said  that  if  his  position  as  syndic  would  make  an  attack 
upon  him  of  sufficient  importance  to  excite  the  public,  he 
was  ready  to  expose  himself.  An  adroit  and  daring 
adventurer,  called  D'Estainville,  was  chosen  for  the  assail- 
ant, and  he  and  Joly  went  to  a  friend's  house  for  practice 
in  assassination.  Joly's  cloak  and  doublet  were  adjusted^ 
and  D'Estainville  practised  firing  at  them,  and  with  great 
accuracy  sent  a  bullet  through  them,  where  it  would 
apparently  injure  the  wearer,  but  would  not  kill  him. 
Joly's  arm  was  then  bruised  by  flints  to  give  the  appear- 
ance of  an  injury  by  a  ball.  On  the  morning  of  the  nth 
of  December,  as  Joly's  carriage  passed  along  the  Rue  des 
Bernardines,  with  its  occupant  carefully  placed  in  posi- 
tion, D'Estainville  stepped  up  and  fired  at  him.  Then 
turning,  he  at  once  made  his  escape,  so  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  discover  who  had  done  the  deed.  The  ball 
passed  safely  through  the  carriage,  but  Joly,  with  his 
pierced  mantle  and  his  bruised  arm,  was  at  once  taken  to 
a  physician.  All  had  been  so  skilfully  arranged  that  even 
the  surgeon  was  deceived,  and  the  syndic's  wounds  were 
duly  dressed  and  poulticed.* 

'Retz,  ii.,  i66. 

*  lb.,  i66.  Joly,  page  28,  says  the  coadjutor  favored  the  plan,  and  he  cer- 
tainly acquiesced  and  assisted  in  it  when  it  was  decided  upon. 

*This  whole  scheme  and  its  execution  is  described  by  Joly  himself.  Joly, 
28,  29.  See  also  Reg.  Hotel  de  Ville,  ii.,  70.  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  429. 
Dis,  Ven.,  ex.,  93,  94,  99. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  55 

In  the  meantime  a  rumor  that  Joly,  the  patriotic  syn- 
dic, had  been  assassinated  spread  through  the  city.  The 
rentiers  flocked  to  the  Tournelle  demanding  justice,  and  a 
disturbed  session  of  the  Parliament  was  held.  But  a  real 
or  pretended  attempt  on  the  Hfe  of  a  greater  personage 
eclipsed  the  excitement  raised  over  the  gallant  syndic. 
When  the  news  of  the  assault  on  Joly  was  first  noised 
about  Paris,  the  Marquis  of  La  Boulaye,  a  nobleman  of 
small  parts,  and  holding  a  subordinate  position  under 
Beaufort,  was  so  affected  by  the  frenzy  of  the  times  that 
he  endeavored  to  raise  an  insurrection.  He  went  through 
the  streets  with  a  handful  of  followers  crying  out  "  To 
arms  !  The  Court  has  murdered  the  syndic  and  en- 
deavored to  murder  M.  de  Beaufort."  But  the  endeavor 
fell  flat.  A  few  shots  were  fired,  and  a  few  bakers 
marked  up  the  price  of  their  loaves  on  the  possibility  of 
trouble.' 

There  was  no  uprising  and  there  were  no  barricades. 
This  fiasco  left  La  Boulaye  in  a  position  which  would  have 
been  ludicrous,  had  it  not  been  dangerous.  He  sought 
perhaps  to  make  his  peace  with  the  Court  by  attempting 
an  assault  upon  the  Prince  of  Cond6.  Cond^  was  warned 
of  such  a  danger,  and  he  sent  his  carriage  with  some  of 
his  lackeys  where  he  himself  was  expected.  It  was  fired 
into  on  the  evening  of  the  eleventh  on  the  Pont  Neuf,  and 
one  of  the  lackeys  in  the  carriage  following  was  injured. 
The  city  was  already  in  a  turmoil,  and  the  excitement  rose 
to  a  fever  height  at  the  news  of  the  attempted  assassina- 
tion of  the  Prince  of  Cond^.  License  and  burlesque  went 
together  even  to  the  verge  of  tragedy,  and  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  decide  whether  this  was  an  attempt  to  murder  the 
first  prince  of  the  blood,  or  only  another  farce.  The 
Frondeurs  claimed  that  Mazarin  had  devised  this  plan,  and 
by  calling  it  a  plot  of  theirs,  intended  to  inflame  the  prince 
against  them.  Others  said  that  the  shots  were  discharged 
by  some  drunken  butchers,  and  were  not  intended  for  the 
prince.     There  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  leading  Fron- 

*  Joly,  30.     Retz,  ii.,  168.     Suite  du  Journal  du  Parlement,  3-5. 


56        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

deurs  knew  of  the  matter,  but  they  were  accused  of  it,  and 
Cond^  believed  that  Retz  and  his  associates  had  formed  a 
plan  to  murder  him.  Whoever  planned  the  attack,  or 
whether  it  was  simply  an  accident  or  a  disturbance  by  a 
few  ruffians,  Mazarin  encouraged  him  in  this  belief,  in- 
tending to  cause  dissensions  that  would  destroy  the  possi- 
bility of  any  further  alliance  between  Cond6  and  the 
Fronde.'  The  cardinal  manifested  the  liveliest  resentment 
at  such  an  attack  upon  his  friend  and  the  prop  of  the  state, 
w^hile  the  prince  himself,  who  was  always  violent  and  in- 
discreet, fell  into  the  snare  that  was  laid  for  him,  and 
solicited  his  friends  to  avenge  this  plot  against  his  life.' 

The  attempted  assassination  was  at  once  brought  before 
the  Parliament,  and  Retz,  Beaufort,  and  Broussel  were 
charged  with  instigating  an  attempt  upon  the  life  of  the 
Prince  of  Cond^.  Even  in  this  time  of  suspicion  and 
excitement  there  was  nothing  to  show  that  they  had 
any  part  in  an  act  equally  criminal  and  impolitic,  and 
the  charges  were  supported  only  by  the  evidence  of 
witnesses  unworthy  of  credence.  One  of  them,  Retz 
claimed,  was  a  man  condemned  to  be  hung  at  Pau. 
Another  had  been  broken  on  the  wheel  in  effigy  at  Le 
Mans.  A  third  had  been  convicted  of  perjury  before 
the  Tournelle,  and  the  others  were  arrant  blacklegs.' 

These  brevet  witnesses,  as  they  were  called,  gained  so 
little  credence  that  Talon  and  Bignon,  who  were  advocates- 
general,  refused  to  report  any  accusations  to  the  Parlia- 
ment  upon  their  testimony.     But  the  procureur  general, 

'  "  Salutem  ex  inimicis  nostris,"  he  wrote  in  his  diary  of  this  assaault, 
Camet  de  Tours,  51. 

*  Joly,  30.  Retz  ii.,  i6g,  172.  Motteville,  318.  Journal  d' Ormesson,  i., 
782-4.  Lenet,  208.  Mazarin  is  charged  by  Joly  and  Rochefoucauld  with 
devising  a  pretended  assault  upon  Conde,  and  such  a  thing  is  hinted  by  Retz. 
His  Garnets  written  at  the  time,  for  his  own  use,  "  Camet  imprime  de  Tours," 
30-42,  seem  to  be  inconsistent  with  any  such  idea.  Lenet,  page  208,  says 
Mazarin  explained  the  whole  affair  to  him,  and  that  he  spoke  of  it  as  a  pre- 
tended attack.  He  wrote  in  this  Carnet,  p.  38,  of  the  attack  on  Conde  : 
"  Cela  rend  raffayer  plus  noyre  et  plus  punissable."  A  man  does  not  make 
such  an  entry  of  his  own  act  in  a  memorandum  intended  for  his  own  eye. 

*  Retz,  ii.,  183.     Journal  du  Parlement,  n,  et seq. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  5/ 

pressed  by  the  Court  and  Cond6,  and  strongly  supported 
by  President  M0I6,  who  in  this  matter  showed  a  zeal 
hardly  to  be  reconciled  with  judicial  impartiality,  brought 
before  the  body  charges  against  Beaufort,  Retz,  and  Brous- 
sel.'  They  were  formally  accused  of  having  joined  in  a 
plot  to  murder  Cond^,  and  they  were  ordered  to  appear 
before  the  body,  that  they  might  be  heard  in  their  own 
behalf,"  Even  though  they  were  innocent  of  the  offence 
charged,  the  position  of  the  accused  was  by  no  means  free 
from  danger. 

The  attempt  to  excite  a  popular  rising  by  the  assault 
on  Joly  had  proved  a  fiasco,  and  the  leading  Frondeurs 
were  subjected  to  the  odium  and  ridicule  that  comes  from 
failure.  Retz  and  Beaufort  were  unscrupulous  men,  and 
it  was  not  incredible  that  they  should  have  planned  to  rid 
themselves  of  their  enemy.  They  could  easily  have 
cajoled  Broussel  to  give  the  appearance  of  assent  to  their 
designs.  In  an  excited  state  of  public  feeling  judgments 
are  based  upon  other  things  than  testimony,  and  con- 
demnations are  in-  the  air  if  not  in  the  evidence.*  After 
iimumerable  plots  unpunished,  it  would  not  be  strange 
that  they  should  be  condemned  for  one  which  they 
had  not  planned.  The  influence  of  the  Court  and  of 
Cond^  was  exercised  to  the  utmost.  The  Duke  of  Orleans 
attended  the  sessions  of  the  Parliament,  Condi's  friends 
and  servants  demanded  vengeance,  and  over  a  thousand 
followers  of  the  prince  are  said  to  have  thronged  the  halls 
when  the  cause  came  up  for  consideration.*  The  judges 
were  equally  solicited  by  the  friends  of  the  accused.  The 
latter  sent  even  into  the  provinces  to  bring  up  their  re- 
tainers to  overawe  the  court,  or  to  engage  in  any  bloody 
mel^e  that  might  arise.* 

'  Mole  claimed  that  the  prosecution  would  fail  unless  it  was  pushed  with 
rapidity,  while  public  feeling  was  excited. — Garnet  de  Tours,  50. 

*  Talon,  372,  37-3.  Journal  d'  Ormesson,  784-9.  Garnet  de  Tours,  39, 
50.    "  II  faut  aiguilloner  le  procureur  general,  car  il  va  lentement." 

'  "  Tout  le  peuple  crie  justice  etrigueur.estant  persuade  de  la  verite  et  de 
-quelque  chose  de  plus." — Garnet  de  Tours,  61. 

*  Dis.  Ven.,  ex.,  104,  •  Retz,  ii.,   182-196. 


58         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

The  accused  made  a  counter-assault  upon  M0I6,  and 
some  of  the  members  of  the  Inquests  declared  that  for 
30,000  scudi  in  the  rentes  he  had  betrayed  his  associates, 
and  demanded  that  he  should  not  be  allowed  to  sit  as 
judge  in  these  trials.* 

On  January  4th  it  was  decided  by  a  vote  of  ninety-eight 
to  sixty-two  that  M0I6  was  entitled  to  continue  to  act.' 
Many  of  the  judges  absented  themselves  to  avoid  voting 
upon  this  question,  while  the  political  future  was  so  un- 
certain. The  investigation  continued  during  the  early 
part  of  January,  1650,  but  in  the  meantime  the  cup  of 
Conde's  offences  was  full,  and  the  hour  had  at  last  come 
when  his  pride  and  his  selfishness  left  him  exposed  to  a 
sudden  and  disastrous  overthrow.  In  the  alarm  which  fol- 
lowed the  events  of  December  nth,  Retz  and  his  associ- 
ates tried  to  check  the  indignation  of  the  Prince  of  Cond^. 
They  endeavored,  both  with  him  and  Mme.  de  Longue- 
ville,  to  prove  their  innocence,  and  they  offered  to  make  a 
firm  alliance  against  the  cardinal.  But  Cond6  was  irritated 
and  defiant,  and  Mme.  de  Longueville  was  unfriendly  to 
Retz.'' 

It  was  claimed  that  Retz  had  informed  Longueville  of 
the  conduct  of  his  wife,  but  the  coadjutor  declared  he 
would  have  been  incapable  of  such  an  act.*  As  there  was 
no  hope  of  reconciliation  from  that  quarter,  the  Frondeurs 
were  driven  to  seek  an  alliance  with  Mazarin  against  a  per- 
son who  had  made  himself  odious  to  all.  Such  an  alliance 
the  cardinal  had  already  contemplated,  and  his  enemies  of 
the  Fronde  had  become  less  hateful  to  him  than  his  pro- 
tector, the  Prince  of  Cond6.  It  was  impossible  that  Mazarin 
should  be  willing  to  remain  in  the  condition  of  subservi- 
ence to  Cond^,  in  which  he  was  placed  by  the  agreement 
of  October.  "  I  think  only  to  serve  him  in  every  way  and 
every  thing,"  Mazarin  wrote  in  his  private  notes,  "  with  a 

'  Some  of  the  witnesses  had  included  Mole  among  those  who  were  aimed 
at  by  the  plots  of  the  conspirators,  and  it  was  claimed  that  his  personal  in- 
terest rendered  it  improper  for  him  to  act  as  a  judge. 

•  Ormesson,  789-801.     Journal  du  Parlement,  January  4,  1650. 

■  Rochefoucauld,  158.  *  Carnet  of  Tours,  i,  2. 


b 


THE  PARLIAMENTAR  V  FRONDE.  59. 

resignation  without  example,  that,  having  every  thing  as 
he  desires,  he  may  assist  in  restoring  the  royal  authority." 
"As  for  my  nieces,"  he  says  again,  "  I  renounce  all  marri- 
ages. I  have  drawn  upon  myself  ill-will,  and  I  will  put 
them  in  a  convent."  ' 

To  Val  de  Grace  they  were  accordingly  sent,  and  the 
marriage  with  Mercceur  was  indefinitely  postponed.  In 
the  notes  in  which  Mazarin  entered,  with  painful  persist- 
ence, the  abuse  of  himself  that  reached  his  ears  from  so 
many  quarters,  he  writes  :  "  Mme.  de  Montbazon  says  the 
prince  hates  the  cardinal  to  the  utmost,  talking  of  him  as 
of  a  slave  who  could  refuse  him  nothing,  and  whom  he 
will  send  off  when  he  desires."*  Cond^  had  at  various 
times  insulted  Mazarin  in  the  council,  and  he  delighted 
to  boast  of  the  affronts  he  had  inflicted  on  a  man  who  was 
much  more  than  his  equal  in  ability.' 

While  Mazarin  yielded  with  marvellous  facility  to  any 
press  of  circumstances,  buying,  surrendering,  flying,  no 
one  was  more  acute  and  indefatigable  in  guiding  events  as 
he  wished.  He  used  every  effort  to  prevent  an  alliance 
between  the  prince  and  the  Frondeurs,  and  as  he  had 
availed  himself  of  Cond6  against  the  Fronde,  he  was  now 
willing  to  avail  himself  of  the  Fronde  against  Cond^. 

Overtures  for  such  a  combination  were  made  by  that 
veteran  intriguer,  Mme.  de  Chevreuse.  After  the  peace 
of  St.  Germain  she  had  returned  to  Paris,  and  through 
Retz  she  was  in  the  closest  relations  with  the  leaders  of  the 
Fronde.  But  she  showed  an  inclination  to  preserve  good 
terms  with  the  Court  against  which  she  had  intrigued  so 
long,  and  she  soon  became  a  valued  adviser  of  Mazarin. 
Years  of  exile  and  of  disappointment  had  cooled  the 
flames  of  opposition  in  her  heart.  She  could  no  longer 
lead  dukes  and  princes  captive  by  her  beauty,  and  she 
sighed  for  the  rest  and  comfort  which  were  insured  by 

'  Garnets,  xiii.,  76,  77.  •  Camet  of  Tours,  9. 

*  Many  of  Conde's  remarks  of  this  sort,  which  savored  much  more  of  the 
ill-bred  bully  than  of  the  statesman,  are  reported  by  Morosini  to  his  govern- 
ment. Dis.  Ven.,  ex.,  80,  89,  etc.  "  M.  le  Prince,  qui  m' avayt  offense  de 
gayete  de  ccEur  ":   Mazarin  said  in  his  notes.     Carnets,  xii.,  121. 


€o        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND   MAZARIN. 

friendly  relations  with  the  government.'  To  Mme.  de 
Longueville,  who  was  still  young,  beautiful,  and  romantic, 
she  left  the  diversified  role  of  a  princess-errant. 

The  influence  of  Mme.  de  Chevreuse  among  the  Fron- 
deurs  was  increased  by  the  fact  that  her  daughter  was  now 
the  mistress  of  the  coadjutor.  The  mother  had  approved 
of  this  intrigue,  even  if  she  had  not  devised  it  as  a  means 
of  political  power.  She  confided  to  Mazarin,  that  she 
held  the  coadjutor  by  means  of  her  daughter,  who  had 
given  him  her  love  and  turned  him  from  that  he  had  for 
Mme.  de  Guemen^.' 

To  this  affection  Retz  was  for  some  time  constant,  with 
occasional  relapses,  which  the  prelate  describes  with  great 
particularity.  Mme.  de  Montbazon,  if  his  statement  is 
accurate,  endeavored  to  break  the  alliance.  "  Tell  the 
true  reason  that  you  will  not  leave  Paris,"  said  the  beauty 
to  the  archbishop.  "  You  cannot  quit  your  nymphs." 
Then  she  continued,  she  could  not  see  why  he  should 
amuse  himself  with  an  old  woman,  who  was  more  wicked 
than  the  devil,  and  a  young  one  who  was  more  foolish 
than  the  mother  was  bad.' 

This  beautiful  and  immoral  woman  was  herself  a  power 
in  politics,  and  the  cardinal  endeavored  to  obtain  her  as- 
sistance in  the  alliance  he  desired.  She  controlled  Beau- 
fort, and  many  others  paid  tribute  to  her  charms.  When 
the  Marquis  of  Hocquincourt,  who  was  Governor  of  P^r- 
onne,  decided  to  join  the  forces  of  that  city  with  the 
Fronde,  he  is  said  to  have  written  to  Mme.  de  Montbazon 
that  P^ronne  yielded  to  the  fairest  of  the  fair,  thus  send- 
ing treason  in  a  madrigal..  In  fact,  most  of  the  intrigues 
and  phases  of  the  Fronde  turned  upon  amours,  and  roun- 
delays and  pasquinades  were  its  diplomatic  correspond- 
dence.     Retz  said  of  Mme.  de  Montbazon  that  he  had 

'  Camets,  xii.,  117,  118,  etpas. 

'  Lettres  de  Mazarin  k  la  Reine,  16.  Retz,  who  discusses  the  character 
of  his  lady-loves  with  the  same  cynical,  if  not  brutal,  frankness  with  which  he 
discusses  his  relations  with  them,  says  that  Mile,  de  Chevreuse  had  beauty, 
but  was  naturally  silly  to  a  ridiculous  extent. — Retz,  i.,  261. 

*  Retz,  ii.,  173,  174. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  6l 

never  known  any  one  who  in  vice  preserved  so  little  re- 
spect for  virtue,  and  Beaufort  who  was  not  disturbed  by  her 
gallantry,  was  in  despair  when  he  found  her  eating  meat  on 
Fridays.'  She  was  now  treated  with  consideration  by  the 
regent  and  Mazarin.  Her  daughter  received  a  tabouret^ 
and  she  herself  had  a  substantial  pension  from  the  crown. 
Both  she  and  Mme.  de  Chevreuse  were  inclined  to  make 
terms  with  the  regent,  and  through  them  Retz  and  Beau- 
fort could  be  moved  as  lovers  as  well  as  politicians.' 

Cond^  had  continued  to  make  himself  odious  to  the 
regent  and  her  minister.  He  had  contrived  to  outrage  the 
queen  not  only  as  a  sovereign,  but  as  a  woman.  The 
Marquis  of  Jarz6,  who  had  already  figured  in  the  broils  of 
the  year,  and  who  was  wholly  devoted  to  Cond^,  flattered 
himself  with  the  delusion  that  he  could  excite  in  Anne  of 
Austria  sentiments  of  personal  attachment.  The  prince 
was  believed  to  have  encouraged  this  hope,  which,  if  it 
had  been  well  founded,  would  have  deprived  Mazarin  of 
the  hold  he  had  on  power  through  the  queen's  affection. 

The  minister  was  vigilant  to  discover  such  plans.  In 
his  Garnets  he  has  written  down  the  words  which  Anne 
was  to  use,  in  order  publicly  to  dispel  this  folly.  "  The 
queen  might  say  before  the  princes  and  the  others :  '  I 
should  be  wrong  now  to  complain  of  anything,  having  a 
gallant  so  well  made  as  Jarz6,  only  I  fear  to  lose  him  some 
day,  for  he  will  be  taken  to  the  mad-house.'  *  *  * 
Then,  if  he  should  have  the  effrontery  to  again  present 
himself,  she  could  say  to  him  :  "Ah,  M.  Jarz6,  do  you 
find  me  to  your  taste  ?  I  never  thought  to  have  such 
good  fortune.'  *  *  *  And  if  he  made  any  answer^ 
she  could  say.  '  If  you  were  not  a  fool  you  would  be 
thrown  out  of  the  window.  I  command  you  to  retire  and 
be  doctored.'  "  *  The  queen  was  the  instrument  of  the 
minister,  who  put  the  words  into  her  mouth.  Almost 
with  these  very  expressions  she  burst  one  day  upon  the 
unhappy  Jarz6,  who  retired  covered  with  shame  to  have 

'  Ibid.,  174.  *  Camets,  xiii.,  iii,  112,  115,  tt pas. 

*  Camets,  xiii.,  95,  96. 


€2         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

his  open  discomfiture  discussed  not  only  in  the  Court,  but 
in  the  streets  and  alleys  of  Paris.  It  even  reached,  as  a 
precious  morsel  of  gossip,  the  ears  of  remote  provincials.' 
Notwithstanding  this  rebuke  by  the  queen,  Cond^  insisted 
that  Jarz6  should  still  be  received  at  Court,  and  he  forced 
upon  Anne  the  society  of  a  man  who,  she  thought,  had 
insulted  her."  The  regent  dared  not  refuse,  but  no  Spanish 
woman  was  ever  capable  of  cherishing  a  more  enduring 
resentment  for  such  an  afTront. 

Another  act  showed  Conde's  resolution  to  render  his 
power  independent  of  the  crown.  Havre  was  one  of  the 
few  places  in  Normandy  which  was  still  in  hands  friendly 
to  the  goverment.  Mme.  d'Aiguillon  held  it  as  guardian 
for  her  nephew,  the  young  Duke  of  Richelieu.  This  young 
man  saw  much  of  Mme.  de  Pons,  the  intimate  friend  of 
Mme.  de  Longueville  ;  but  his  aunt  did  not  suspect  that 
her  nephew  would  be  attracted  by  a  middle-aged  widow. 
Mme.  de  Pons,  however,  angled  for  the  young  duke,  and 
she  was  encouraged  in  her  plans  by  Mme.  de  Longueville, 
who  promised  Condi's  protection.  Richelieu  was  en- 
snared, and  the  marriage  was  secretly  celebrated  at  a 
chateau,  belonging  to  the  Duchess  of  Longueville,  and  was 
announced  to  the  Court  the  day  after  Christmas.*  The 
marriage  was  at  once  followed  by  an  endeavor  of  Rich- 
elieu to  seize  Havre  for  himself,  and  Havre  in  his  hands 
would  be  subject  to  Cond^. 

This  marriage  and  its  evident  design  excited  irritation. 
Mme.  d'Aiguillon  bewailed  to  the  queen  the  rape  of  her 
nephew  by  an  elderly  widow,  neither  rich  nor  beautiful, 
whom  the  courtiers  called  the  homely  Helen."  The  gov- 
ernment was  alarmed  by  the  prospect  of  losing  the 
strongest  place  in  Normandy,  and  by  Condi's  indifference 
to  its  authority. 

'  Motteville,   313,  315.     Sup.  au  Journal  d' Ormesson,  780.     The  event 
is  related  with  various  details  by  all  the  memoir  writers. 
'  Dis.  Ven.,  ex.,  80.,  Dec.  7th.     Garnet  de  Tours,  3-5. 

•  "  Persuaso  e  incantato  da  Principe  di  Conde,"  says  Morosini,  ex.,  ill. 

*  Garnet  de  Tours,  71,  72.  Motteville,  319,  320,  See  Aff.  Etr.  France, 
870,  32. 


I 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  63 

But  Condi's  position  was  now  such  that  it  was  no 
longer  necessary  to  submit  to  his  despotism  and  insolence. 
The  prince,  Mme.  de  Chevreuse  said,  was  strong  among 
the  weak,  but  he  was  weak  among  the  strong.  The  nobiUty 
and  the  other  princes  were  incensed  against  him.  She  prom- 
ised to  answer  for  Beaufort,  the  coadjutor,  and  all  their 
party,  if  the  queen  would  give  them  her  entire  confidence.' 

Retz  was  accordingly  sent  for  early  in  January,  1650, 
and  he  visited  the  regent  in  profound  secrecy.  She  told 
him  her  grievances  against  the  prince,  and  mingled  with 
them  her  sorrow  at  the  trials  of  her  minister.  "  The  poor 
cardinal,"  she  constantly  repeated.  She  offered  to  with- 
draw the  nomination  to  the  cardinalate  from  La  Riviere, 
and  give  it  to  the  coadjutor,"  Mazarin  complained  bit- 
terly of  La  Riviere,  as  false  to  him  and  too  faithless  to  be 
true  even  to  himself.'  The  minister,  however,  had  not  been 
inferior  to  the  abb6  in  duplicity,  for  with  the  ofificial  nomi- 
nation, he  is  said  to  have  sent  a  private  letter  to  Rome, 
that  would  have  obtained  for  Riviere  the  yellow  hat  of  a 
heretic  rather  than  the  red  hat  of  a  cardinal.* 

Retz  disclaimed  any  desire  to  bargain  for  honors  for 
himself,  but  suitable  compensation  was  fixed  for  the  chief 
Frondeurs,  and  it  was  agreed  that  there  should  be  no  pub- 
lic clamor  at  the  arrest  of  the  Prince  of  Cond^.  Orleans 
had  also  to  be  gained,  and  he  was  discreetly  weaned  from 
his  favorite.  Mme.  de  Ghevreuse  pointed  out  to  him  that 
La  Riviere,  for  his  own  interests,  had  neglected  those  of 
his  master,  and  that  he  was  devoted  to  the  House  of 
Cond^,  on  account  of  his  consuming  desire  to  become  a 
cardinal.  Conde  had  offended  the  duke  by  his  imperious 
manners,  and  his  great  power  excited  Orleans'  fears.  The 
Duke  of  Orleans,  declared  Mazarin,  could  be  the  happiest 

'  Camet,  xii.,  118-122.  "  Le  coadjuteur,  Beaufort,  ettout  le  party  seroyt 
entiirment  k  moy,  si  je  le  volys  recevoir." — Camet  of  Tours,  60,  Dec'r. 

*  Morosini,  in  speaking  of  this,  says  that  Retz  :  "  tra  li  malcontenti  i  certa- 
mente  il  solo  che  ha  lalenti." — ex.,  loq. 

'Complaints  of  Riviere  are  found,  Camet  de  Tours,  19-27,  77,  etc. 

*  Retz,  ii.,  197,  203.  The  Venetian  minister  wrote  m  June  it  was  re- 
ported that  Riviere  offered  Donna  Olympia  100,000  scudi  for  his  promotion, 
and  Mazarin  offered  her  200,000  to  prevent  it. — Dis.  Ven.,  cix..  83. 


64        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

man  in  the  world,  enjoy  the  king's  confidence,  pay  the 
expenses  of  his  establishment,  make  peace,  and  be  adored 
by  the  people,  but  he  should  lose  no  time.'  Thus  skilfully 
plied,  the  timid  and  fickle  prince  was  easily  cajoled  and 
frightened  into  an  agreement  to  abandon  both  Cond^  and 
La  Riviere.  On  January  i6th,  Mazarin  signed  a  paper 
with  Cond^,  by  which  he  agreed  again  that  he  would 
never  depart  from  the  prince's  interests,  but  would  re- 
main attached  to  him  before  all  and  against  all."  Two 
days  later,  on  the  i8th,  all  was  ready  for  Condi's  arrest 
and  imprisonment.  Rumors  of  his  danger  had  been  car- 
ried to  his  ears,  but  he  was  too  confident  of  his  position  to 
give  credence  to  them.  On  January  1 7th,  one  of  his  friends 
warned  him  of  the  peril,  but  the  prince  replied  that  was 
the  seventeenth  folly  that  had  been  talked  to  him  on  that 
day.  It  had  been  decided,  however,  that  Cond6,  Conti, 
and  Longueville  should  not  attend  the  Louvre  together,, 
so  that  the  three  great  members  of  their  house  could  not 
be  arrested  at  once,  but  on  the  18th,  Mazarin  said  that 
the  council  would  consider  the  reversion  of  the  royal  lieu- 
tenancy for  Normandy,  which  Longueville  had  solicited 
for  a  friend,  and  also  matters  of  importance  and  of  inter- 
est to  all.  Shortly  after  dinner  on  that  day,  the  three 
arrived  at  the  Louvre.  The  regent  was  in  bed  feigning  a 
headache,  and  waiting  with  anxiety  for  the  result  of  the 
perilous  enterprise.  Cond^  met  Mazarin,  who  conversed 
with  him  with  his  customary  affability.  The  prince,  as 
usual,  was  full  of  complaints.  The  Parliament  was  pro- 
tecting his  enemies;  Orleans  was  cold  in  his  support,  and 
La  Riviere  was  treacherous  and  using  his  influence  in 
behalf  of  the  Frondeurs.  He  talked  loudly,  and  the 
sounds  reached  the  queen,  who  imagined  he  was  protest- 
ing against  his  arrest.  La  Riviere  now  arrived,  and  the 
cardinal  turned  and  took  him  into  his  chamber,  leaving 
Cond^,  Conti,  and  Longueville  in  the  gallery  with  some 
others  of  the  council.  All  being  now  ready,  Anne  arose 
from  her  bed,  gave  the  order  of  arrest  to  Guitaut,  captain 

'  Carnet  of  Tours,  74,  etc. 
'  Mss.,  cilc'l  i:i  Re>z,  ed.  Champolior,  ii.,  206. 


THE  PARLIAMENTARY  FRONDE.  65 

of  the  guards,  and  retired  with  the  young  king  to  her 
oratory,  to  pray  for  the  success  of  her  undertaking.  Guit- 
aut  entered  the  gallery,  and  speaking  to  Cond^,  said  :  "  I 
have  orders  to  arrest  you,  the  Prince  of  Conti,  and  M.  de 
Longueville,"  "  Me,  M.  Guitaut,"  cried  the  prince;  "you 
arrest  me?  In  the  name  of  God,  go  to  the  queen  and  say 
I  ask  to  speak  with  her."  ' 

The  captain  obeyed,  and  Cond^,  turning  to  the  others, 
said  :  "  The  queen  arrests  you  and  me  also.  I  confess  this 
astonishes  me,  who  have  always  served  the  king  so  well, 
and  who  believed  myself  so  assured  of  the  friendship  of 
the  cardinal." 

Guitaut  now  returned,  saying  that  the  queen's  orders 
were  explicit  for  their  arrest.  They  accordingly  followed 
the  guards,  and  went  by  a  back  passage  into  the  gardens 
of  the  Louvre,  where  they  entered  the  carriage  prepared 
for  them.  Some  of  the  gendarmes  of  the  king  stood  at 
the  gate  of  the  garden  as  they  passed.  "  This  is  not  the 
battle  of  Lens,"  said  the  prince  to  one  of  them,  but  no 
one  answered.  The  prisoners  were  driving  rapidly  over 
the  back  ways  to  avoid  passing  through  the  chief  streets 
of  the  city,  when  the  carriage  was  overthrown.  Cond6 
sprang  out,  and  could  have  escaped,  but  he  was  stopped 
by  Miossens,  a  lieutenant  of  the  guards.  "  Miossens"  said 
the  prince,  "  if  you  wish,  see  what  you  can  do."  "  I  am 
grieved  to  be  forced  to  this," answered  the  lieutenant,  "  but 
I  must  obey  the  king  and  the  queen."  The  prisoners  were 
then  safely  carried  to  Vincennes,  and  there  confined.  No 
beds  were  ready  for  them,  and  they  spent  the  night  play- 
ing cards.  Cond6  bore  his  overthrow  with  better  grace 
than  he  had  his  prosperity,  but  Longueville  was  becoming 
old,  and  he  was  cast  down  by  the  prospect  of  imprison- 
ment. "  That  is  a  good  haul,"  said  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 
when  he  heard  of  the  arrest.  "  They  have  taken  the  lion, 
the  monkey,  and  the  fox." ' 

'  Brienne,  page  124,  says  Conde  sent  the  chancellor  to  inquire  of  the 
queen.  Mme.  de  Motteville  says  he  sent  Guitaut,  and  her  account  is 
fuller,  and  probably  written  nearer  the  time  of  the  occurrence.  So,  al- 
though Brienne  was  a  witness,  it  is  possible  that  his  recollection  was  in 
fault  in  that  respect.  *  Joly,  33. 


66         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Retz  fulfilled  his  pledge  that  no  disturbance  should  fol- 
low the  arrest.  Indeed,  Cond^  was  so  unpopular  that  his 
downfall  was  greeted  with  universal  joy.  Bonfires  blazed 
before  the  houses  of  the  bourgeois,  and  they  fired  their 
rusty  arquebuses  into  the  air.  The  reports  reached  the 
prisoners  at  Vincennes,  and  when  Cond6  was  told  they 
were  firing  in  honor  of  his  arrest,  he  was  filled  with  amaze- 
ment.' 

"  I  have  something  of  consequence  to  tell  you,"  Mazarin 
had  said  to  La  Riviere,  as  he  led  him  into  his  closet. 
When  the  abb^  heard  c  f  the  arrest  of  the  prince,  he  treated 
it  at  first  as  a  fable,  but  when  he  found  that  such  a  step 
had  been  agreed  to  by  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  without  con- 
sulting him,  he  knew  that  his  power  was  gone.  "  I  am  a 
lost  man,"  said  the  unhappy  favorite.  He  visited  the  duke 
and  tried  to  show  him  that  he  was  wrong  in  distrusting  his 
fidelity.  But  Mme.  de  Chevreuse  had  persuaded  the  duke 
that  the  vision  of  a  cardinal's  hat  had  turned  the  abbe's 
head,  and  Orleans  was  deaf  to  his  entreaties.  The  fallen 
favorite  was  ordered  to  retire  to  one  of  his  livings,  and  his 
expectations  of  becoming  a  cardinal  vanished  forever. 
For  six  years  he  had  controlled  the  wishes,  beliefs,  and 
actions  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  He  had,  at  least,  large 
"wealth  to  console  him,  in  his  retirement,  for  the  ruin  of 
his  hopes  and  the  loss  of  his  greatness.  He  was  said  to 
have  fifty  thousand  livres  of  rentes  and  two  millions  of 
ready  money." 

'  For  an  account  of  the  arrest  of  the  princes,  see  Motteville,  325-331. 
Afl.  Etr.  Fr.,  870.  p.  7.  Garnet,  xiv.,  116-118.  Nemours,  629-632. 
Journal  d'  Ormesson,  803-5.  Despatch  of  Mazarin,  Jan'y  22,  1650.  Mont- 
glat,  225-227.  Brienne,  123-125.  Montpensier,  61,  62.  Talofj,  379-389. 
The  accounts  of  Mme,  de  Motteville  and  of  Brienne,  who  were  present  at  the 
arrest,  are  the  fullest  and  most  accurate. 

'  Motteville,  334.  Talon,  380.  Garnets,  xiii.,  pages  2-4.  He  died  in 
1675,  and  left  100  crowns  to  whoever  would  write  the  best  epitaph  upon  him. 
La  Monnaye  wrote  this  : 

"  Gi  git  un  tr^s  grand  personnage, 

Qui  fut  d'un  illustre  lignage. 

Qui  posseda  mille  vertus, 

Qui  ne  trompa  jamais,  qui  fut  toujours  sage.— 

Je  n'en  dirai  pasdavantage  ; 

C'est  trop  mentirpour  cent  ecus." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   REVOLTS   FOR   THE   RELEASE   OF  CONDfe. 

The  arrest  of  the  princes  was  followed  by  an  attempt 
to  seize  the  most  important  of  their  followers,  but  they  es- 
caped and  raised  the  standard  of  rebellion  wherever  they 
possessed  any  local  influence,  Mme.  de  Longueville  was 
now  recognized  as  one  of  the  chief  political  leaders,  and 
commendation  of  her  political  skill  had  become  sweeter  to 
her  than  the  praise  of  her  "  beaux  yeux,"  to  which  she  had 
listened  so  long.  She  fled  at  once  into  Normandy  in  order 
to  avoid  arrest,  and  endeavored  to  lead  that  province 
into  insurrection. 

But  Normandy  was  weary  of  disorder  and  could  not  be 
charmed  into  turmoil  even  by  so  beautiful  an  intriguer. 
Richelieu  was  negotiating  with  the  Court  about  Havre, 
and  Rouen  was  cold  to  the  cause.  Mme.  de  Longueville 
fled  to  Dieppe,  and  endeavored  to  inflame  the  citizens 
against  the  cardinal.  But  they  told  her  they  loved  their 
quiet,  and  suffered  no  disturbance  from  Mazarin's  rule. 
They  would  as  willingly  serve  him  as  any  one  else.  The 
chateau  which  she  occupied  was  hedged  in  by  troops,  and 
she  was  in  danger  of  capture.  Disappointed  in  all  her 
hopes,  but  with  her  courage  unabated,  the  wandering 
princess  prepared  to  fly  still  farther. 

She  wished  to  embark  in  a  fisherman's  smack,  hoping  to 
meet  some  vessel  for  Holland,  but,  as  the  boatman  was 
assisting  her  aboard,  the  wind  being  furious  and  the  sea 
very  high,  he  lost  his  hold,  and  she  fell  into  the  ocean. 
She  was  rescued  with  difficulty,  and  was  warmed  and  re- 
vived at  the  little  hamlet  of  Pourville.     When  the  princess 

67 


68        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

had  become  a  saint  instead  of  a  politician,  she  commem- 
orated this  terrible  night  and  her  rescue  by  sending  on 
each  anniversary  of  it  2CX)  fagots  to  the  cwxt  of  Pourville, 
to  be  used  in  warming  the  poor.' 

It  was  now  impossible  to  go  by  water,  on  account  of  the 
fierceness  of  the  storm,  and  she  obtained  some  horses, 
rode  all  night,  and  at  last  found  shelter  at  a  gentleman's 
residence.  In  his  house  she  lay  concealed  some  days,  and 
finally  disguising  herself  as  a  man,  she  engaged  passage 
on  an  English  ship,  and  reached  Holland  in  safety."  There 
she  was  joined  by  Turenne,  who,  influenced  by  his  brother, 
and  fascinated  by  her,  now  entered  into  treasonable  al- 
liances with  Spain.  But,  as  it  was  said,  the  crime  of  high 
treason  was  fashionable  at  that  time.' 

Marcillac,  who  had  now  become  by  his  father's  death 
the  Duke  of  Rochefoucauld,  also  attempted  a  movement 
on  behalf  of  the  imprisoned  princes,  and  rallied  about  him 
a  large  body  of  gentlemen  of  Poitou.  He  sent  frequent 
accounts  of  his  progress  to  Mme.  de  Longueville,  and  a 
desire  to  shine  in  her  eyes  seems  to  have  been  his  chief 
motive.* 

Mme.  de  Longueville  and  Mme.  de  Chevreuse  could  over- 
throw ten  states,  Mazarin  said,  and  he  complained  to  the 
Spanish  minister  of  this  development  of  female  activity  in 
politics.  "  You,"  said  the  cardinal  to  the  Spaniard,  "  are 
happy.  You  have,  like  every  one  else,  two  sorts  of  women, 
plenty  of  coquettes  and  a  few  good  women.  The  one 
wishes  to  please  her  gallants,  and  the  other  her  husband, 
and  they  have  no  desires  but  for  luxury  and  vanity.  They 
do  not  know  how  to  write  except  to  lovers  or  confessors, 
and  their  heads  would  be  turned  if  you  talked  politics  to 
them.  But  our  women,  whether  prudes  or  gallants,  young 
or  old,  wise  or  foolish,  wish  to  have  a  hand  in  everything. 

*  Hist,  du  Parlement  deNormandie,  v.,  449, 

*  Motteville,  335-337.     Nemours,  619,  632,  633.  Lettres  de  Colbert,  i.,  5. 
"  Motteville,  192.      For  these  transactions  in  Normandy,  see   despatches 

of  Mazarin  to  Le  Tellier,  published  in  appendices  to  Mem.  de  Retz,  ii.,  iii. 
Dis.  Ven.,  ex.,   133,  et pas.,  and  Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  456-491. 

*  Lenet,  223. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR    THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.      69 

A  woman  will  not  go  to  rest  until  she  has  talked  over  the 
affairs  of  state  with  her  husband  or  her  lover.  They 
wish  to  know  every  thing,  and,  what  is  worse,  they  wish  to 
manage  and  embroil  every  thing.  We  have  three,  Mme. 
de  Chevreuse,  Mme.  de  Longueville  and  the  Princess 
Palatine,  who  cause  us  every  day  more  confusion  than 
ever  there  was  in  Babylon."'  "The  most  important  in- 
trigues in  this  kingdom,"  Richelieu  had  written,  *'  are 
usually  begun  and  conducted  by  women."  ' 

While  these  attempts  at  insurrection  were  madt,  the 
Frondeurs,  the  old  Fronde  as  they  were  called,  to  dis- 
tinguished them  from  the  new  Fronde  of  Condi's  follow- 
ers, proceeded  to  reap  the  fruits  of  their  alliance  with 
Mazarin.  They  did  not  receive  all  that  they  wished,  but 
they  received  something.  The  seals  were  taken  from 
Chancellor  Seguier  and  given  again  to  Chateauneuf.  It 
was  seventeen  years  since  Richelieu  had  taken  them  from 
him,  because  he  had  yielded  himself  to  the  counsels  of 
Mme.  de  Chevreuse.  After  so  many  years  of  disappoint- 
ment and  disgrace,  he  was  at  last  restored  by  the  influence 
of  the  woman  whose  attractions  had  caused  his  overthrow.* 
He  was  now  over  70,  but  years  had  not  cooled  his  ambi- 
tion, and  his  friends  were  exultant,  hoping  that  since  he 
was  again  in  the  service  of  the  government,  it  would  not 
be  long  before  he  would  replace  the  cardinal.  But  the 
queen  informed  her  confidants  that  they  were  deceived 
who  thought  he  would  ever  be  more  than  he  then  was.* 
Mazarin  greeted  his  possible  successor  affably,  and  treated 
all  the  party  with  attention,  saying  he  found  it  very  agree- 
able to  have  become  himself  a  Frondeur.'     He  proclaimed 

'  Lenet,  254. 

*  Mem.  de  Richelieu,  xxiii. ,  229.  The  cardinal  wrote  this  in  1637,  when  he 
was  in  danger  from  the  hostility  of  Mme.  de  Hautefort,  to  Mile,  de  la  Fay- 
ette. The  Venetian  ambassador  wrote  his  government  in  1652  :  "  In  questo 
pacse  prevale  I'autorita  e  I'entratura  delle  daiue  anco  nelle  cose  piu 
serie  e  piii  importante." — Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.,  92. 

*  Dis.  Yen.,  cxi.,  il.  *  Motteville,  338. 

*  Joly,  35.  "  De  quitter  tout  et  de  se  fayre  frondeur,"  Mazarin  said  of  his 
conduct.     Camet  de  Tours.  82.  , 


70         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

his  desire  to  advance  Retz's  friends,  who  were  now  his 
own,  but  advised  moderation  in  promising  them  places  of 
importance.* 

On  account  of  Beaufort's  garrulity,  the  plot  for  the  ar- 
rest had  been  concealed  from  him  till  immediately  before 
its  execution.  He  and  Mme.  de  Montbazon  complained 
that  they  had  been  trifled  with  in  this  matter,  but  Retz, 
to  show  that  he  had  been  mindful  of  their  interests  in  the 
bargain  with  the  Court,  pulled  from  his  pocket  the  rever- 
sion of  the  admiralty  which  had  been  granted  to  Beaufort. 
The  duke  embraced  the  faithful  coadjutor,  and  Mme.  de 
Montbazon  kissed  him  five  or  six  times,  very  tenderly.' 

A  pension  of  3,000  livres  was  given  to  a  son  of  Broussel.* 
The  accusations  against  Beaufort,  Retz,  and  Broussel 
were  at  once  dismissed  by  the  Parliament.  The  followers 
of  the  prince  endeavored  to  obtain  assistance  from  that 
body,  but  the  Frondeurs  were  firm  in  their  alliance  with 
Mazarin,  and  defeated  these  efforts.  Le  Coigneux,  a 
member  of  the  Inquests,  demanded  for  the  princes  an  ex- 
amination or  a  trial,  and  protested  against  holding  them 
without  legal  charges  in  indefinite  confinement.  Such  a 
right  had  been  demanded  by  the  Parliament,  in  1648,  and 
had  been  granted  by  the  edict  of  October  in  that  year. 
But  French  politics  at  this  time  turned  on  persons  and  not 
on  principles.  The  right,  which  is  the  most  valuable 
check  on  arbitrary  power,  was  viewed  with  indifference 
when  it  was  invoked  for  an  opponent,  even  by  those  who 
had  most  loudly  clamored  for  it.  Had  the  men  excited 
no  personal  interest,  Pry nne's  ears  might  have  been  cropped 
in  France,  and  Hampden  been  arrested  for  not  paying  il- 
legal taxes,  and  no  one  would  have  murmured.  In  France, 
Wilkes  could  have  been  outlawed,  fined,  and  sent  to 
prison,  and  the  feeling  that  the  oppression  of  one  man  is 
the  oppression  of  all  men  would  not  there  have  made  an 
infamous  profligate  the  most  popular  man  in  the  kingdom. 
All  Paris  could  be  roused  to  tumult  by  a  mob,  crying, 

*  Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  467-8,  Feb.  7th.  '  Retz,  ii.,  235.  236. 

'  Garnets,  xiv.,  21. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR   THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.      7 1 

"  No  Mazarin  !  "  but  no  continued  resolution  and  enthusi- 
asm enforced  a  popular  right  or  defeated  an  illegal  tax. 
Le  Coigneux  was  hissed  down  by  the  Parliament,  and  his 
proposition  was  rejected  with  universal  contempt.* 

Apart  from  the  disturbances  threatened  in  Normandy 
and  Poitou,  Bouillon  had  embarked  in  the  cause  of  the 
princes.  Champagne  was  ready  for  revolt,  while  in  Guienne 
the  long  smouldering  discontent  with  Epernon  made  it 
easy  for  the  partisans  of  Cond6  to  excite  serious  trouble. 
Mazarin  resolved  to  quiet  these  revolts  in  person,  and  on 
February  ist  he  left  Paris  with  the  regent  and  the  young 
king.  Normandy  was  easily  pacified.  There  was  indeed 
no  serious  disturbance  there.  The  royal  party  was  received 
at  Rouen  with  great  enthusiasm.  By  the  latter  part  of  Feb- 
ruary, Mme.  de  Longueville  had  sailed  for  Holland,  and 
the  province  was  entirely  peaceful." 

There  was  little  diflficulty  in  overcoming  the  insurrection 
in  Burgundy,  though  Cond6  had  been  its  governor. 
Mazarin  and  the  king  proceeded  there,  and  the  siege  and 
capture  of  Bellegarde  ensured  the  tranquillity  of  the  prov- 
ince.* But  the  troubles  in  Guienne  were  more  serious.  The 
Parliament  was  irritated  by  the  insulting  conduct  of  Eper- 
non, and  the  people  were  distressed  by  the  taxes.*  It  was 
there  that  the  friends  of  the  prince  went  for  assistance. 
Condi's  cause  was  vigorously  espoused  by  his  mother 
and  wife.  His  wife  had  been  forced  upon  him  by  the 
greed  of  his  father  and  the  ambition  of  Richelieu.  He 
long  cherished  thoughts  of  repudiating  her,  and  such  plans 

'  Motteville,  340. 

•Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  456-491.  Carnet  1^,  pas.  in  early  portion.  Lettres 
de  Colbert,  i.,  1-8.  Among  the  appointments  by  the  government,  Pierre 
Comeille,  the  poet,  was  appointed  syndic  of  the  States  of  Normandy.  Maz- 
arin received  from  the  queen  300,000  livres,  to  recompense  him  for  his 
services  there  and  for  his  loss  from  the  pillage  of  his  effects  at  Paris.  Dis. 
Ven.,  cxi.,  i.  The  same  despatch  of  March  i,  says  :  "In  pochi  giorni  riddotta 
tutta  la  Normandia  ad  una  vera  obbedienza'. "  A  pamphleteer  complains  that 
they  appointed  Pierre  Comeille,  who  knew  well  enough  how  to  make  verses 
for  the  theatre,  but  was  said  to  be  ill  fitted  to  manage  matters  of  state. 
Suite  du  Journal  du  Parlement,   57. 

•  Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  494-536.  *  Dis.  Ven.,  cxi.,  45. 


72         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

had  yielded  to  an  ill-disguised  neglect  and  contempt.  But 
in  the  hour  of  her  husband's  adversity  the  niece  of  Rich- 
elieu showed  herself  no  unworthy  consort  for  a  Cond6. 

The  dowager  princess  was  ordered  to  retire  to  Mont- 
rond  or  Bourges,  but  instead  of  obeying,  she  complained 
to  the  Parliament  of  the  treatment  with  which  she  was 
threatened,  little  befitting  her  age  and  quality,  and  in- 
flicted upon  her  for  the  crime  of  being  the  mother  of  two 
princes.  She  asked  for  an  asylum  in  Paris,  where  she 
might  in  retirement  pray  for  her  unfortunate  family. 
While  the  judges  were  not  wholly  disinclined  to  listen  to 
her  complaint,  they  recommended  to  her  obedience." 

At  Chantilly,  however,  active  measures  were  planned  on 
behalf  of  the  imprisoned  princes.  There  were  carried  on 
together  intrigues  of  diplomacy  and  gallantry,  the 
mingling  of  politics  and  frivolity  which  marked  the  period 
of  the  Fronde.  At  Chantilly,  writes  one  of  the  most  ac- 
tive of  Conde's  followers,  after  prayers  in  the  chapel, 
every  one  retired  to  the  apartment  of  the  princess 
dowager.  There  were  games,  singing,  and  conversations 
about  the  intrigues  of  the  Court  and  affairs  of  gallantry. 
Some  read  the.  letters  from  the  Duchess  of  Longueville 
and  the  last  lampoons  on  Mazarin,  or  they  discussed  and 
revised  others  which  had  not  yet  been  published.  Pam- 
phlets, sonnets,  elegies,  rhymes,  and  puzzles  exercised  the 
witty.  By  day  they  wandered  through  the  avenues  of  the 
park  or  along  the  lake  singing,  writing  verses,  or  reading 
romances,  and  even  the  jealousies  of  the  young  ladies 
over  their  lovers  only  gave  zest  to  the  pleasures  of  exist- 
ence." 

But  the  release  of  the  princes  could  not  be  obtained 
solely  by  laying  plots  in  such  agreeable  surroundings.  At 
midnight  on  May  9th,  Condi's  wife  left  Montrond,  where 
she  had  retired  by  the  queen's  orders,  and  with  her  son, 
the  Duke  of  Enghien,  a  child  of  seven,  and  a  small  body 
of  followers,  she  started  to  rouse  the  southern  provinces 

'  Talon,    387-389.     Motteville,  360,     Dis.    Ven.,  cxi.,    64-5.     Suite  du 
Journal,  68-74.  "  Lenet,  230-1. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR    THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE       73 

in  her  husband's  behalf.  She  travelled  amid  dangers  and 
hardships,  over  rough  and  perilous  roads,  and  joined  the 
Duke  of  Bouillon  at  Turenne.  There  she  was  received 
with  an  enthusiasm  worthy  her  courage  and  rank.  The 
firing  of  cannon  greeted  her  as  she  entered  the  town  fol- 
lowed by  a  body  of  cavalry  and  nobles.  One  hundred 
covers  were  set  in  the  great  hall  where  she  dined.  The 
noise  of  the  feast  grew  furious  as  they  drank  the  toast  to 
the  Prince  of  Cond^.  Some  drank  standing,  some  on 
their  knees,  but  all  with  head  bared  and  sword  in  hand 
pledged  the  prince's  restoration,  until  many,  incoherent, 
but  still  faithful,  were  laid  among  the  bottles  under  the 
table.* 

The  princess  rapidly  gathered  a  considerable  force,  and 
many  of  the  influential  nobles  in  Southern  France  joined 
her  cause.  By  the  last  of  May  she  appeared  before  Bor- 
deaux. That  city  and  the  province  of  Guienne  were 
ready  to  aid  any  party  which  was  hostile  to  the  gov- 
ernment. Epernon's  cruelties  and  arbitrary  rule  made 
him  hated  by  all,  and  this  hatred  was  reflected  upon  the 
government  which  supported  him.  His  removal  had  been 
repeatedly  asked,  but  Mazarin  was  unwilling  to  deprive  of 
so  great  an  office  the  father  of  a  possible  husband  for  one 
of  his  nieces.  It  was  justly  charged  that  the  cardinal 
sacrificed  the  interests  of  this  great  province  to  the  desire 
of  obtaining  the  Duke  of  Candale  as  a  nephew." 

It  is  certain  that  Epernon  was  allowed  to  remain  in  a 
place  where  he  increased  the  dangers  to  which  the  gov- 
ernment was  exposed.  A  bourgeoise  named  Nanon  of 
Lartigue,  of  little  beauty  or  wit,  but  having  the  skill  to 
charm  the  proud  duke  by  feeling  or  feigning  a  profound 
admiration  for  him,  and  by  treating  him  as  a  great  prince, 
had  become  the  mistress  of  his  actions.  He  was  said  to 
have  bestowed  on  her  a  fortune  of  two  million  livres,  and 

'  Ibid.,  264-272. 

*  Lenet,  300.  The  well-informed  Venetian  ambassador  speaks  of  Maz- 
arin's  desire  for  this  alliance  and  the  negotiations  pending  for  it,  and  says 
that  by  that  Epernon  secured  Mazarin's  support.  Dis.  Ven.,  cxi.,  262. 
"  La  grande  disp>osizione  di  sua  Eminenza  a  questo  partito,"  etc. 


74        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

the  scandal  of  her  influence  with  the  duke  and  of  the 
wealth  and  power  heaped  upon  one  who  had  sprung  from 
an  inferior  position,  added  to  the  hatred  felt  for  Epernon 
by  the  people  of  Guienne.' 

It  was  resolved  to  admit  the  princess  into  the  city  of 
Bordeaux.  The  people  broke  open  the  gates,  swearing  they 
would  kill  any  one  who  opposed  her  entrance,  and  she  was 
received  by  a  great  multitude,  who  pressed  eagerly  to  kiss 
the  hand  of  the  young  Enghien,  showered  flowers  upon  the 
mother,  and  rent  the  air  with  cries  of  "  Long  live  the  King, 
and  the  Princess  of  Conde ! "  mingled  with  execrations 
against  Mazarin  and  Epernon.  On  June  first,  the  princess 
took  her  son  to  the  Parliament,  followed  by  a  multitude 
of  eager  sympathizers.  She  demanded  from  the  judges 
protection  from  the  violence  of  Mazarin,  and  assistance 
for  the  prince  and  his  unhappy  house,  so  unjustly  perse- 
cuted. The  young  duke  knelt  on  the  ground,  and  said  to 
the  court :  "  Act  as  a  father  to  me.  Messieurs,  for  the 
Cardinal  Mazarin  has  taken  my  own  father  from  me."  It 
was  voted  amid  sobs  and  acclamations  that  the  princess 
and  her  son  should  remain  under  the  protection  of  the 
city,  while  the  king  was  petitioned  to  lend  a  favorable  ear 
to  her  remonstrances.  A  proclamation  was  issued  in  the 
the  name  of  Claire  Clemence  de  Maille  Brez^,  wife  of  the 
Prince  of  Cond6,  Duke  of  Enghien,  Chateauroux,  Mont- 
morenci,  Albret,  and  Fronsac,  governor  of  Burgundy^ 
Bresse,  and  Berri,  asking  aid  for  a  prince  who  had  so  often 
exposed  his  life  in  the  service  of  the  king  and  the  welfare 
of  the  people,  and  who  was  now  kept  by  Mazarin  in  chains 
and  rigorous  captivity." 

The  princess  and  her  supporters  at  once  turned  to 
Spain  for  assistance.  A  Spanish  envoy  was  received  at 
Bordeaux,  and  help  was  demanded  from  him  for  a  prin- 
cess overwhelmed  with  misfortune,  and  for  her  infant  son. 
But  the  Spanish  wished  to  furnish  aid  in  proportion  to 

'  Lenet,  267. 

*  Lenet,  276,  284.  ' '  Histoire  veritable  de  tout  ce  qui  s'est  fait  en  Guyenne 
pendant  la  guerre  de  Bordeaux, "  t-7. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR    THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.      75 

the  strength  of  the  party  which  could  be  organized  in 
Condi's  behalf.  This  was  not  satisfactory,  for  the  most 
of  those  from  whom  help  was  expected  in  Bordeaux  or 
out  of  it,  were  only  ready  to  act  in  the  hope  of  a  recom- 
pense proportionate  to  their  services,  and  funds  sufficient 
to  excite  their  activity  must  come  from  Spain.  A  treaty 
was,  however,  signed,  and  representatives  were  sent  ta 
Madrid,  but  except  some  very  moderate  sums  of  money, 
the  princess  received  little  help  from  that  government. 

But  the  populace  continued  eager  in  her-  behalf,  prais- 
ing her  courage  and  attractive  manners,  and  heaping  im- 
precations upon  the  cardinal,  whom  they  declared  the 
enemy  alike  of  the  state,  and  of  God  and  man.'  The 
Parliament,  not  without  opposition,  and  somewhat  con- 
strained by  violence,  declared  a  formal  union  with  the 
princess,  and  its  representatives  were  sent  to  obtain  the 
cooperation  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  A  resolution 
was  there  offered,  asking  the  queen  to  liberate  the  princes^ 
and  to  grant  peace  and  relief  from  their  miseries  to  the 
people  of  Guienne ;  the  Frondeurs  were  still  firm  in  their 
hostility  to  Cond^,  and  it  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  1 13  to  65. 
But  crowds  gathered  at  some  of  the  sessions,  crying 
out  against  the  government,  and  accusing  even  Beaufort 
of  being  a  Mazarinite,  and  the  cardinal  complained  that 
when  he  was  openly  attacked  in  the  Parliament  no  voice 
was  raised  in  his  defence." 

Negotiations  continued  between  the  two  cities,  and  the 
Parliament  of  Paris,  though  making  no  formal  union,  yet 
interposed  its  friendly  offices  in  behalf  of  the  Parliament 
of  Bordeaux.  One  of  the  remonstrances  presented  by  the 
latter  was  thought  by  all  to  have  been  prepared  in  Paris, 
on  account  of  the  elegance  of  the  style  and  arrangement, 
which  it  was  not  believed  could  have  proceeded  out  of 
Gascony.*  Paris  was  then  the  literary  centre,  and  the 
style,  even  of  the  best  educated,  and  of  members  of  the 

'  Lenet,  311,  313,  321. 

•  Talon,  390-391.     Dis.  Ven.,  cxi.,  183.     Let.  de  Mazarin,  t.  iii.,  for  July 

•  Talon,  394. 


^6         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

highest  courts,  who  lived   remote  from  the  capital,  was 
ordinarily  provincial  and  unpolished. 

After  Normandy  and  Burgundy  had  been  quieted,  the 
Court  returned  to  Paris,  but  Mazarin  resolved  to  march 
south,  and  endeavor  to  allay  the  disturbances  there. 
Such  an  expedition  was  viewed  with  little  favor  by  the 
leaders  of  the  Fronde.'  Notwithstanding  their  nominal 
alliance  with  the  cardinal,  they  were  willing  that  his  power 
should  be  embarrassed  by  internal  disturbances.  Mazarin, 
however,  decided  that  it  was  necessary,  and  in  July  he  pro- 
■ceeded  southward  with  a  considerable  army  towards  Bor- 
deaux. The  young  king  accompanied  the  expedition,  but 
his  presence  did  not  command  obedience.  It  was  voted 
that  neither  the  cardinal  nor  the  troops  of  the  king  should 
be  received  into  Bordeaux,  and  the  city  was  thereupon  re- 
duced to  a  condition  of  partial  siege.  Negotiations  were 
begun  and  it  seemed  probable  that  terms  could  be  agreed 
upon,  but  an  ill-advised  act  of  severity  strengthened  the 
feeling  of  resistance.  The  Castle  of  Vayres  was  defended 
against  the  royal  army  by  Richon  of  Bordeaux.  When 
the  castle  surrendered,  it  was  resolved  to  deal  with  its 
commander,  not  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  but  as  a  rebel.  Not- 
withstanding threats  of  retaliation,  he  was  condemned  to 
be  hung,  as  one  taken  in  open  insurrection,  and  the  sen- 
tence was  forthwith  executed.  This  solitary  example  of 
severity,  visited  on  an  officer  of  secondary  rank,  apparently 
because  he  had  made  a  gallant  resistance,  excited  in  Bor- 
deaux rage  rather  than  fear.  The  inhabitants  deplored 
the  cruel  death  of  their  fellow-citizen,  and  voted  to  meet 
this  act  by  reprisal.  The  lot  fell  on  a  Captain  Canol,  who 
had  been  made  prisoner  by  the  insurgents.  He  was  found 
talking  with  some  ladies,  and  was  instantly  taken  to  execu- 
tion. The  man  was  a  Huguenot,  and  some  said  that  time 
should  at  least  be  allowed  for  a  priest  to  visit  him,  and 
convert  him  from  his  errors  before  it  was  too  late.  But 
the  mob  cried  out  that  he  was  a  Mazarinite,  and  so  he 
would  be  damned  at  any  rate,  and  the  unhappy  man  was 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxi.,  92,  93. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR    THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.       ^J 

hanged  forthwith,  and  his  body  left  suspended  from  the 
walls  of  the  town.  A  solemn  mass  was  said  for  the  repose 
of  Richon's  soul,  and  it  was  attended  by  the  members  of 
the  Parliament,  and  of  the  city  bodies,  who  declared  they 
thus  showed  their  respect  for  one  who  had  been  sacrificed 
for  his  country.' 

The  populace  continued  fierce  in  its  zeal  for  the  Prince 
of  Cond^.  A  general  review  was  had  and  twenty-five 
thousand  men  were  said  to  be  under  arms,  all  declaring 
they  would  die  rather  than  consent  to  peace  unless  the 
princes  were  liberated.  The  streets  resounded  with  innu- 
merable cries  of  "  Long  live  the  king  and  the  princes,  no 
Mazarin  !  "  The  young  Duke  of  Enghien,  hearing  the 
sound  of  the  drums  and  musketry,  cried  to  his  attend- 
ant :  "  Give  me  my  sword,  that  I  may  go  and  kill 
Mazarin." ' 

The  Parliament  of  Paris  continued  its  endeavors  to  ob- 
tain favorable  terms  of  peace  for  a  sister  court.  Already, 
Condi's  imprisonment  had  lessened  the  popular  hostility 
to  him,  and  the  Frondeurs  were  wearying  of  their  alliance 
with  Mazarin.  Though  Orleans  opposed  any  measures 
for  the  release  of  the  princes,  he  promised  the  people  of 
Guienne  that  they  should  be  relieved  from  Epcrnon.* 
Favorable  consideration  was  asked  for  the  complaints  of 
the  magistrates  of  Bordeaux,  and  both  the  Parliament  and 
the  duke  sent  their  representatives  to  endeavor  to  make 
peace.  Such  interference  with  its  dealings  with  a  rebel- 
lious province  was  little  relished  by  the  government.  Dele- 
gates from  Bordeaux  proceeded  directly  to  Paris  without 
paying  any  attention  to  the  regular  oflFiccrs  of  the  crown. 
The  cardinal  was  obliged  to  order  the  Duke  of  Epcrnon 
to  leave  the  province,  though  he  protested  this  was  to 
sacrifice  the  authority  of  the  crown.  He  still  struggled  to 
have  the  suspension  of  the  duke's  authority  only  tempo- 
rary.    He  had  long  protected  Epernon,  .sacrificing  in  this 

'  Lenet,  331,  332,  7.    Montglat,  234.    Motteville,  353.    Lettres  de  Maza- 
rin, iii.,  664.     Memoires  de  Coligny-Saligny,  32-34. 
*  Histoire  Veritable,  etc.,  46. 
'  Aff.  Etr.  France,  t.  871,  p.  77.     Talon  391. 


78         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

instance  the  welfare  of  the  state  to  the  elevation  of  his 
nieces.'  As  is  the  case  with  many  men,  Mazarin's  most 
unjustifiable  acts  were  committed  when  he  was  seeking 
the  advancement  of  his  family. 

The  various  delegations  could  not  reach  any  terms  that 
would  be  accepted  both  by  the  Bordalese  and  by  the 
regent.  Summer  was  passing  away.  The  incursions  of 
the  Spanish  threatened  Paris  and  Northern  France,  and  it 
was  necessary  for  Mazarin  to  begin  active  operations 
against  Bordeaux,  or  retreat  with  the  disgrace  of  leav- 
ing the  city  unsubdued." 

On  the  5th  of  September  the  royal  forces,  under  the 
Marshal  of  La  Meilleraie,  began  the  siege  of  the  town. 
It  was  continued  for  ten  days  with  no  great  loss  on  either 
side,  and  with  no  marked  advantage.  The  princess  en- 
couraged the  defenders,  although  she  declared  that  she 
would  oppose  no  peace  that  was  deemed  for  their  interest 

■  The  charge  that  Mazarin  protected  Epernon  in  the  hope  of  marrying 
Tiis  niece  to  the  duke's  son  was  universally  made.  The  Venetian  ambas- 
sador refers  to  it  in  despatches  of  March  22,  June  28,  August  2,  et pas.,  1650. 
He  says  in  August,  t.  cxi.,  170.  "  Non  havendo  havuto  altra  causa  la  pro- 
tezione  di  Epernon  che  il  matrimonio  d'una  nepole."  The  cardinal  him- 
self declared  that  such  rumors  were  absurd,  and  that  he  cared  nothing  for 
such  a  marri^e,  (despatch  to  Le  Tellier,  July  29,  1650  ;  Let.  iii.,  641), 
but  other  letters  show  how  much  this  and  other  alliances  occupied  his  mind. 
See  his  letters  to  Epernon  in  1648  and  1650,  Lettres  t.  \\\., passim,  in  which 
he  promises  Epernon  his  support,  refers  constantly  to  their  common  interests, 
and  shows  his  desire  for  Epernon's  good-will.  The  great  office  of  Admiral  had 
been  promised  to  Vendome,  as  a  part  of  the  contract  by  which  his  son  Mer- 
coeur  was  to  marry  one  of  the  cardinal's  nieces.  Mazarin's  letters  show  how 
entirely  this  important  office  was  bestowed  to  secure  the  alliance.  He 
■writes  Le  Tellier  :  "I  cannot  disguise  the  fact  that  the  Queen  is  greatly 
enraged  at  the  proposition  to  give  the  admiralty  at  once  to  M.  de  Vendome 
without  any  thing  being  said  of  the  marriage.  Her  Majesty  has  said  that 
she  would  be  greatly  pained  to  give  occasion  to  the  world  to  mock  her  and 
me  if  this  office  and  the  survival  of  it  should  be  carried  off  without  any  talk 
as  to  the  marriage."  Despatch  of  May  i,  1650.  Here,  as  always,  Mazarin 
claimed  that  these  advancements  of  his  own  family,  though  indifferent  to 
him,  were  insisted  on  by  the  regent.  He  used  his  influence  with  her  to 
have  such  demands  made  nominally  in  her  name.  Mazarin's  defence  of 
Epernon,  and  his  resolution  to  protect  him,  appears  in  a  great  number  of 
letters.  Lettres,  t.  iii.,  625,  679,  782,  806,  etc.  Lettres  de  Colbert,  i.,  26. 
Camet  de  Tours,  63-5,  etc.  *  Lenet,  371. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR    THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.       79 

by  the  citizens.  Bouillon  and  Rochefoucauld  were  in  the 
city  and  endeavored  to  keep  its  inhabitants  zealous  in  their 
opposition  to  the  government.  But  on  the  15th,  deputies 
from  the  Parliament  of  Paris  arrived  bringing  terms  of  a 
proposed  peace,  which  were  gladly  accepted  by  its  defenders, 
who  were  wearied  with  their  exertions,  and  by  the  burg- 
esses, whose  zeal  was  abated  by  the  long-continued  hostili- 
ties. The  adherents  of  the  prince  feared  that  such  a  peace 
would  leave  him  a  captive,  but  they  were  in  no  condition  to 
oppose  the  popular  desire.  There  was  no  money  to  pay  the 
troops,  and  but  a  scanty  supply  of  provisions.  Special  causes 
also  cooled  the  zeal  of  the  people  of  Bordeaux.  The  grapes 
were  now  ripening  on  the  hills,  and  the  season  of  the  vin- 
tage was  drawing  near.  After  the  vintage,  they  told  Lenet, 
they  would  embark  again  in  the  cause,  but  now  the  grapes 
must  be  gathered.  To  lose  the  chief  crop  of  the  year 
would  mean  a  season  of  want  and  business  depression. 
The  owner  of  a  rich  grapery  longed  to  be  at  liberty  to 
gather  his  fruit  unhindered  by  sieges  or  predatory  troops ; 
the  shop-keeper  feared  lest  the  country  people,  losing  the 
product  of  their  vines,  should  have  no  money  with  which 
to  buy  his  wares  ;  the  judges  were  wearied  of  their  posi- 
tion as  leaders  of  an  insurrection  against  the  royal  au- 
thority. Retz  claimed  that  their  character  was  such  that 
the  oldest  and  wisest  of  them  could  gamble  away  his 
property  in  a  night  without  hurting  his  reputation.'  But 
however  low  their  moral  standard  may  have  been,  the 
name  of  rebels  was  distasteful  to  them.  Though  Mazarin 
complained  of  the  interference  of  the  Parliament  in  this  mat- 
ter as  a  dangerous  precedent,  he  was  ready  to  grant  easy 
terms.  Little  impression  had  been  produced  on  the  city 
by  the  attack  of  La  Meilleraie,  and  alike  the  presence  of 
hostile  armies,  and  the  intrigues  of  the  Frondeurs  and  of 
Condi's  friends,  demanded  his  presence  at  Paris.  When 
both  parties  were  thus  inclined,  the  deputies  of  the  Parlia- 
ment found  little  trouble  in  proposing  acceptable  terms  of 
peace.     Lenet  and  the  followers  of  the  Princess  of  Cond6 

'  Retz,  ii.,  231. 


JJO        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

lacked  both  money  and  men,  and  felt  they  could  hope  for 
nothing  better  than  reasonable  terms  for  themselves,  leav- 
ing the  liberation  of  the  prince  to  fortune  and  intrigue. 
On  October  first,  articles  of  peace  were  signed  between  the 
regent  and  the  insurgents.  Lenet  boasts  that  their  reso- 
lution, even  in  desperate  circumstances,  enabled  them  to 
make  peace  with  the  king  almost  as  one  crown  with  an- 
other. By  the  treaty,  a  full  amnesty  was  granted  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Bordeaux,  and  to  all  who  had  taken 
any  part  in  these  disturbances  ;  the  Princess  of  Cond^, 
Bouillon,  Rochefoucauld,  and  all  her  other  followers  were 
allowed  to  retire  to  their  residences  in  the  full  enjoyment 
of  all  dignities  or  offices  which  they  held,  on  condition 
only  that  they  laid  down  their  arms,  and  continued  in  the 
future  in  fidelity  and  obedience.  Epernon  it  was  under- 
stood was  not  to  be  recalled  to  the  province.  Its  inhabi- 
tants desired  some  one  appointed  in  his  place  as  governor, 
but  it  was  said  the  king  had  not  the  power  to  deprive  him 
of  his  office,  though  he  agreed  that  the  duke  should  not 
exercise  its  duties.' 

On  the  3d  of  October,  the  princess  sailed  from  Bordeaux, 
accompanied  by  many  of  her  officers,  and  escorted  by  a 
crowd  of  twenty  thousand  persons  of  all  ages,  who  wept 
at  her  departure  and  poured  benedictions  upon  her  and 
her  son.  On  the  next  day  she  visited  the  regent,  and  ex- 
pressed her  regrets  if  she  had  done  any  thing  that  had  dis- 
pleased, and  also  prayed  for  the  liberation  of  her  husband. 
"  Now  that  you  acknowledge  your  fault,  you  are  in  the 
right  way,"  replied  the  queen.  "  I  will  see  when  I  can 
give  you  the   satisfaction   you    ask."  "     On  the  5th,  the 

'  For  the  disturbances  at  Bordeaux  see  Lenet.  233-411.  Let.  de  Maz.  for 
July,  August,  and  September,  iii.,  581-852.  Hisloire  Veritable,  etc.  Le 
Courier  Bordelois,  1650.  Suite  du  Journal  du  Parlement,  93-172.  Dis. 
Ven.,  cxi,  cx\\. ,  passim  during  these  months.  Morosini  says  the  peace  was 
received  "con  sommo  contento  della  Corte  e  delli  habitant!  " — cxii.,  26. 
Mazarin  says  it  was  received  with  joy  at  Bordeaux,  but  the  abandonment 
of  Epernon  was  very  distasteful  to  the  cardinal,  iii.,  823,  833,  etc. 

'  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  841-4,  863.  "  Je  ne  fais  nul  cas  de  tout  cela,"" 
he  says  of  the  refusal  of  the  judges  to  visit  him.  Dis.  Ven.,  cxii.,  38. 
Montpensier,  71. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR  THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.       8 1 

regent  and  her  son  made  their  solemn  entry  into  the  city. 
One  of  the  perfect  days  of  Southern  France  favored 
the  solemnity,  and  the  roaring  of  cannon,  the  waving  of 
flags  and  tapestries,  and  the  acclamations  of  a  mul- 
titude ready  to  applaud  any  ceremonial,  greeted  the 
entry  of  the  young  king  with  the  same  enthusiasm 
with  which  they  had  bidden  farewell  to  the  princess. 
The  Parliament,  however,  refused  to  call  upon  Mazarin, 
and  the  minister  was  obliged  to  submit  to  this  affront. 
Bouillon  and  Rochefoucauld  visited  him,  and  were  affa- 
bly received.  He  took  them  and  Lenet  to  drive.  As 
they  started  in  the  carriage,  the  cardinal  said :  "  Who 
would  have  believed,  ten  days  ago,  that  we  four  would  be 
to-day  riding  in  one  carriage  ?  "  "  Every  thing  comes  to 
pass  in  France,"  replied  the  author  of  the  maxims.* 

These  internal  dissensions  had  weakened  the  French 
armies,  and  French  subjects  endeavored  to  stir  into  life 
the  ordinary  Spanish  torpidity.  After  Mme.  de  Longue- 
ville  escaped  into  Holland  she  joined  Turenne  at  the  little 
city  of  Stenai,  on  the  Meuse.  Turenne  claimed  that  he 
was  under  obligations  to  bear  arms  against  the  govern- 
ment until  Cond^  should  be  set  at  liberty.  It  is  more 
probable  that  the  charms  and  smiles  of  Mme.  de  Longue- 
ville  lured  him  into  rebellion.  Though  he  was  not  a  favored 
lover,  the  admiration  she  had  excited  when  she  visited  his 
camp  on  her  way  to  Miinster  still  exerted  an  influence 
over  this  cold  and  loyal  soldier,  and  it  carried  him  into  an 
alliance  with  the  Spanish,  his  life-long  adversaries,  in  be- 
half of  Cond6,  his  life-long  rival. 

At  Stenai  Mme.  de  Longueville  played  a  part  fully  to 
her  taste.  La  Moussaie  was  also  there,  and  she  stimulated 
his  zeal  as  well  as  Turenne's  by  her  flattery,  and  a  rivalry 
for  her  favor  excited  both  to  increased  activity."     There, 

'  Lenet,  412,  413  :  "Tout  arrive  en  France."  M.  Bazin  seems  to  think 
this  the  origin  of  the  mot  which  has  become  a  proverb,  and  which  has  been 
so  constantly  verified  by  the  extraordinary  variations  and  changes  of  French 
politics  for  two  centuries.  Rochefoucauld  had  seen  enough  of  such  in  his 
own  career  to  have  suggested  the  remark,  which  bears  traces  both  of  his  sen- 
tentiousness  and  his  cynicism. 

*  Lettersof  Mme.  de  Longueville,  published  in  y<7Mf7«i/</^j5!iiz'a»/r,  1853. 


82         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

as  among  the  followers  of  the  Prince  of  Cond^,  war  and 
coquetry  went  hand  in  hand.  Early  in  May  Mme.  de 
Longueville  issued  a  manifesto  justifying  her  conduct  in 
taking  up  arms.  A  despised  clergy,  a  persecuted  nobility, 
and  a  ruined  people,  together  with  the  crowning  outrage, 
the  arrest  of  her  brothers  and  her  husband,  had  driven  her 
to  this  course.  By  it  she  hoped  to  deliver  the  princes 
from  an  unjust  imprisonment,  to  restore  peace  to  France, 
and  to  free  it  from  the  unbearable  yoke  of  the  tyranny  of 
a  foreigner.'  Her  zeal  was  so  great  that  she  was  included 
with  Turenne,  Bouillon,  and  Rochefoucauld  in  the  royal 
proclamation  registered  by  the  Parliament,  in  which  they 
were  declared  disturbers  of  the  public  repose,  guilty  of 
high  treason,  deprived  of  all  their  dignities  and  offices, 
and  their  estates  confiscated  to  the  government." 

But  as  no  one  believed  such  punishment  would  be  in- 
flicted, to  be  thus  singled  out  for  condemnation  gratified 
Mme.  de  Longueville's  vanity  without  exciting  her  fear. 
She  and  Turenne  made  a  treaty  with  the  Archduke  Leo- 
pold, by  which  it  was  agreed  that  no  conditions  should  be 
made  with  France  until  the  princes  were  released  from 
prison,  and  a  just,  equitable,  and  reasonable  peace  had 
been  made  with  Spain.' 

The  early  campaign  of  the  new  allies  was  unsuccessful. 
They  laid  siege  to  Guise  and  were  repulsed,  to  the  great 
satisfaction  of  Mazarin.*  But  in  August,  when  the  march  to 
Guienne  of  the  forces  of  the  king  had  left  the  northern  fron- 
tiers ill  guarded,  these  were  invaded  by  the  Spanish.  After 
capturing  some  towns,  they  met  the  French,  under  Hoc- 
quincourt,  at  Fismes.  In  command  of  the  invading  forces 
were  the  Marshal  of  Turenne  and  the  future  Marshal 
of  Luxembourg,  the  two  greatest  French  captains  of 
the  age.  They  were  to  acquire  permanent  fame  in  the 
service  of  France,  but  they  gained  little  military  reputa- 
tion when  leading  foreigners  against  their  native  land. 

'  This  manifesto  is  found  in  "  Choix  de  Mazarinades,"  ii.,  168-176. 

•  Talon,  389.     Mol^,  iv.,  81-83.  *  Turenne,  425,  426. 

*  Montglat,  230.     Turenne,  426.     Instructions  k   Tellier,  "  Journal  d'un 
Bourgeois,"  p.  8. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR  THE  RELEASE  OF  CONDE.       83 

Hocquincourt,  however,  was  repulsed  and  fell  back  with 
some  loss,  and  late  in  August  the  enemy  penetrated  as  far 
as  Fert6  Milon,  only  ten  leagues  from  Paris.  Hocquin- 
court's  disaster,  exaggerated  by  rumor,  spread  consterna- 
tion there  and  in  the  country  round,  and  it  was  expected 
within  a  day  or  two  to  see  the  Spanish  colors  flying  before 
the  walls  of  the  city.  But  the  position  of  the  invaders  was 
full  of  peril.  The  French  forces  were  assembling,  while 
the  promised  risings  on  behalf  of  the  princes  did  not  occur. 
Turenne  was  anxious  they  should  push  on  and  endeavor 
to  liberate  Cond^  and  his  associates,  who  were  still  at 
Vincennes,  but  the  Archduke  saw  many  dangers  in  such 
an  attempt,  and  uncertain  advantage  even  if  it  were  suc- 
cessful. If  the  princes  were  liberated,  all  parties  might 
become  reconciled,  and  Spain  be  deprived  of  the  benefit 
she  derived  from  the  dissensions  of  her  adversaries.  He 
distrusted,  said  one,  the  French  humor,  easily  embroiled, 
but  still  more  easily  reconciled.' 

But  the  cardinal  resolved  to  remove  so  valuable  prizes 
out  of  danger's  way.  He  had  already  desired  to  change 
their  place  of  confinement  to  some  spot  where  they  would 
be  farther  from  Paris."  On  the  other  hand,  the  Frondeurs, 
led  by  Retz,  insisted  that  if  they  were  transferred  to  any 
other  place  it  should  be  to  the  Bastille.  There  they  would 
be  entirely  under  their  control,  and  a  way  would  be  open  at 
any  time  for  a  new  turn  in  the  political  kaleidoscope,  and 
for  a  reconciliation  which  would  leave  Mazarin  exposed  to 
the  united  assaults  of  the  factions.*  Before  he  changed  the 
place  of  the  prisoner's  confinement,  he  wished,  however, 
the  consent  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  whose  position,  if 
not  his  talents,  still  gave  him  great  influence.  After  La 
Riviere's  overthrow,  the  duke  had  fallen  under  the  control 
of  a  still  more  dangerous  adversary,  for  he  was  now 
guided  by  the  insidious  counsels  of  the  coadjutor  of 
Paris.      Retz  claimed   that   he   did    not   desire   to   have 

'  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  768,  et  pas.  Montglat,  231.  Turenne,  427. 
Lenet,  318.  Plessis  Praslin,  406-419.  Motteville,  354.  Mss.  of  Estrees, 
cited  in  Cheruel,  iv.,  143,  144.  •  Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  607. 

*  Dis.  Ven.,  cxi.,  16.     Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii..  769,  922. 


84  FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

thrown  upon  him  the  burden  of  Orleans'  fears  and  irreso- 
lutions. He  had  thought  to  put  the  President  Bellievre 
in  the  place,  because,  he  said,  it  was  necessary  that  Or- 
leans should  always  have  some  one  to  govern  him.'  The 
duke  objected  that  Bellievre's  appearance  was  too  keen 
and  bourgeois,  and  Orleans  at  last  drifted  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  coadjutor,  to  the  great  sorrow  of  the  Court, 
who  dreaded  his  restless  ability,  and  to  the  discomfort  of 
Retz  himself,  who  feared  that  his  favor  would  interfere 
with  his  libertine  life.  The  importance  of  having  the 
custody  of  Cond^  was  appreciated  by  Retz,  but  the  Court 
succeeded  in  obtaining  from  Orleans  a  consent  that  the 
princes  should  be  temporarily  taken  to  Marcoussis  be- 
yond the  Seine,  and  removed  from  danger  of  capture 
until  another  place  of  confinement  could  be  agreed  on.* 

Thus  deprived  of  any  chance  of  releasing  the  prisoners, 
Turenne  was  ready  to  fall  back  from  Paris.  The  army 
lay  for  a  month  at  Fismes  in  Champagne,  and  ambassa- 
dors were  sent  to  ask  the  Duke  of  Orleans  to  agree  on 
terms  of  peace  between  the  two  countries.  The  duke 
was  pleased  to  assume  such  a  role,  and  Mazarin  deemed 
it  politic  to  authorize  these  negotiations.  Orleans  sent 
envoys  to  treat  with  the  archduke,  but  Leopold  was 
only  trifling,  and  the  mediators  were  finally  informed  that 
the  negotiations  could  best  be  carried  on  with  Orleans  in 
person,  and  not  at  present,  but  at  some  other  convenient 
time.  Instead  of  treating  for  peace,  the  archduke  laid 
siege  to  Mouson.  The  town  was  not  one  of  great  import- 
ance, but  it  made  a  long  and  stubborn  resistance.  Rains 
and  the  lack  of  ammunition  delayed  the  enemy,  and  the 
place  did  not  surrender  until  November  6th,  after  seven 
weeks  of  siege.  Wearied  and  reduced  in  numbers,  the 
Spanish  army  then  went  into  winter  quarters." 

Apart  from  the  terror  and  suiTering  they  had  inflicted 
on  Northeastern  France,  the  Spaniards  made  some  prog- 

*  Retz,  ii.,  217.  »  Aff.  Etr.  France,  871,  p.  158. 

•  Montglat,  231-32.  Dis.  Ven.,  cxii.,  15,  16,  19,  24.  Let.  de  Mazarin, 
">•»  773i  783.     Turenne,  427  and  428. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR  THE  RELEASE  OF  CONDE.       85 

ress  in  other  regions.  In  May,  both  Piombino  and 
Porto  Longone  were  invested.  These  places  had  been 
conquered  but  four  years  before,  at  an  enormous  expense 
of  money,  and  a  serious  loss  of  men.  Their  capture  had 
made  Mazarin's  brother  a  cardinal,  and  his  enemies  said 
that  was  the  only  object  of  so  great  exertions,  but  to  lose 
them  again  seemed  a  disgraceful  end  to  those  costly  en- 
■deavors  to  gain  a  foothold  in  Central  Italy.  The  French 
government  was,  however,  too  crippled  to  be  able  to  pre- 
serve what  it  had  cost  so  much  to  gain.  The  small  forces 
garrisoning  the  towns  defended  them  with  valor,  but  the 
resistance  they  offered  caused  only  delay.  On  June  20th, 
Piombino  surrendered.  Porto  Longone  held  out  until  the 
last  of  July,  when  its  governor  agreed  to  capitulate  if  he 
did  not  receive  succor  within  fifteen  days.  No  succor 
was  sent,  or  attempted  to  be  sent,  and  the  conquests  of 
Mazarin  proved  as  evanescent  as  most  French  conquests 
in  Italy.  The  loss  of  these  places  caused  little  regret.  Their 
possession  was  so  associated  with  Mazarin  that  many  were 
quite  content  to  see  them  recaptured  by  Spain.' 

The  government  was  hardly  able  to  cope  even  with  its 
internal  enemies,  and  was  almost  powerless  from  want  of 
money.  Mazarin  was  then  in  Guienne  trying  to  quiet  the 
troubles  that  had  commenced  from  the  support  he  gave 
Epernon.  "  In  God's  name,"  he  wrote,  "  let  the  super- 
intendent raise  money  in  some  way  to  pay  the  troops. 
The  soldiers  are  without  money,  without  clothes,  and 
without  food."  In  Catalonia  their  distress  threatened  the 
loss  of  that  province.  The  people  there  had  rebelled 
against  Spain  on  account  of  the  oppression  they  suffered 
from  Spanish  soldiers,  and  for  a  like  reason  they  would 
now  rise  and  expel  the  French.  "  It  is  a  crime,"  he  wrote 
again,  "  not  to  raise  money  in  any  way,  rather  than  lose 
places  which,  like  Casal  and  Brisach,  have  been  won  by 
torrents  of  French  blood."  For  himself  he  had  not  a 
sou   nor  any  hope  of  finding  one.' 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxii.,  16. 
*  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  586,  710,  733,  797,  846,  etc. 


86         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

After  the  peace  of  Bordeaux,  Mazarin  spent  a  few  days 
in  the  endeavor  to  rekindle  by  the  royal  presence  the 
flames  of  loyalty  in  that  city,  and  then  turned  his  face 
northward.  He  was  much  embarrassed  as  to  the  course  he 
should  pursue.  Paris  needed  his  attention  and  the  presence 
of  the  king,  but  the  cardinal  dreaded  to  return  to  the  city 
in  which  he  was  held  in  abhorrence.  His  nominal  allies,  the 
Frondeurs,  were  cold  in  his  support,  and  they  made  little 
effort  to  conceal  the  hostility  which  they  had  always  felt.* 
The  return  was  delayed,  also,  by  the  queen's  illness,  which 
detained  her  at  Amboise  for  several  days.  She  was  de- 
pressed by  the  condition  of  her  health  and  the  unsatisfac- 
tory position  of  public  affairs,  but  with  her  usual  courage 
and  pertinacity  she  pressed  on  as  soon  as  she  was  able, 
and  on  November  8th  she  arrived  at  Fontainebleau. 
There  she  found  embarrassment  from  the  intrigues  of 
Retz  and  his  followers.  She  had  asked  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  to  meet  her,  but,  acting  under  the  advice  of  his 
associates,  he  received  this  request  of  his  sister-in-law  with 
indifferent  courtesy.  After  much  delay,  due  partly  to 
discontent  and  partly  to  fear,  Orleans  at  last  betook  him- 
self to  Fontainebleau,  and  there,  notwithstanding  his  re- 
missness, he  was  favorably  received.  His  consent  was 
asked  to  a  measure  on  which  Mazarin  had  set  his  heart. 
The  three  princes  were  still  confined  at  Marcoussis,  and 
Mazarin  greatly  desired  to  have  them  removed  to  Havre. 
He  was  entirely  sure  of  that  city,  which  was  now  under 
the  command  of  Madame  d'Aiguillon.  Its  strength  defied 
attack,  and  it  was  far  removed  from  the  Frondeurs  and 
from  the  Parisian  populace.  Plans  for  this  change  had 
long  been  laid,  and  the  cardinal  was  eager  to  obtain  Or- 
leans' consent  and  have  the  prisoners  at  once  conveyed  to 
their  new  place  of  confinement.  Anne  asked  the  duke 
what  he  thought  of  such  a  change.  "  Half  yes,  half  no," 
he  replied.  A  consent  was  easily  obtained  on  a  matter 
which  he  apparently  viewed  with  indifference.     But  Or- 

'  These  intrigues  against  Mazarin  are  described  in  his  letters  for  Novem- 
ber and  December,  1650. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR  THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.       8/ 

leans  was  the  slave  of  fear,  and  he  constantly  turned  from 
one  policy  to  another,  as  those  who  met  him  practised 
upon  his  timidity.  That  night  the  mistake  of  such  a  con- 
sent was  pointed  out  to  him  by  a  Frondeur,  who  terrified 
him  into  believing  that  the  princes  once  at  Havre,  Maza- 
rin  could  treat  with  them  or  release  them,  as  he  saw  fit, 
and  their  power  might  be  united  to  the  ruin  of  any  other 
authority  in  the  state.  The  next  morning  the  duke  de- 
clared loudly  at  Fontainebleau  that  he  would  not  consent 
to  the  change,  and  for  two  hours  he  harassed  Le  Tellier, 
the  secretary  of  state,  with  his  remonstrances  against 
the  plan.  But  Le  Tellier  told  him  that  it  had  already 
been  announced,  and  the  king's  honor  was  at  stake  on  its 
execution,  while  its  results  could  only  further  that  union 
between  Orleans  and  the  regent  in  which  consisted  the 
welfare  of  the  kingdom.  At  early  morning  the  duke 
had  aroused  Fontainebleau  by  his  protests ;  by  noon  he 
was  calm,  but  he  still  manifested  displeasure ;  by  even- 
ing he  had  again  visited  the  queen  and  was  in  full 
harmony.  All  that  he  demanded  was  that  he  should  not 
be  required  to  enter  Paris  in  the  same  carriage  with  Maz- 
arin.' 

No  time  was  lost  in  transferring  the  princes  to  their 
new  prison.  On  the  15th  they  were  taken  from  Marcous- 
sis,  and  were  conveyed  to  Havre  under  a  guard  of 
eight  hundred  horse  and  four  hundred  foot  soldiers.  Some 
movement  for  their  release  was  expected,  but  the  transfer 
was  so  promptly  and  vigilantly  executed  that  none  was 
even  attempted.  The  Count  of  Harcourt,  illustrious  from 
his  victories  at  Turin  and  at  Casal,  himself  acted  as  com- 
mander of  the  guard,  a  task  perhaps  unworthy  of  his  great 
reputation.  A  storm  of  obloquy  and  ridicule  was  heaped 
upon  him  by  the  wits  and  Frondeurs  of  Paris,  for  having 
been  willing  to  exchange  the  laurels  of  Italy  for  the  posi- 

■  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  607.  Talon,  399,  400.  Motteville,  357. 
Retz,  ii.,  296-300,  claims  that  Orleans,  under  his  advice,  consented  to  the 
transfer  with  dignity  and  promptness.  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier,  74, 
75,  says  he  did  not  consent  at  all.  The  account  of  Talon  is  probably  the 
most  accurate. 


88         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

tion  of  tipstaff  for  Mazarin.'  Under  Harcourt's  charge, 
the  princes  were  safely  lodged  in  the  citadel  of  Havre. 

But  the  removal  which  had  been  so  much  desired  and  so 
carefully  planned  made  the  situation  worse  instead  of 
better.  Condi's  friends  were  indignant  at  the  prospect  of 
a  longer  and  severer  captivity.  At  Havre,  it  was  said,  the 
prisoners  were  entirely  under  Mazarin's  control  ;  they 
were  confined  in  an  unwholesome  place,  dangerous  to 
health,  and  where  they  might  be  dead  for  a  year  before 
one  heard  the  news."  Such  complaints  were  used  to  in- 
crease the  popular  sympathy  with  the  princes  which  was 
created  by  their  long  confinement,  by  the  heroism  of  the 
Princess  of  Conde,  and  by  the  natural  fickleness  of  the 
populace.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Frondeurs  regarded  this 
act  of  Mazarin  as  hostile  to  their  interests.  The  princes 
might  as  well  be  confined  in  one  of  the  cardinal's  own 
houses  as  at  Havre.  There  he  could  hold  them  indefi- 
nitely, subject  only  to  his  own  will ;  if  other  factions 
seemed  to  be  threatening,  he  could  secretly  make  terms, 
and  he  would  find  Conde  ready  to  promise  his  alliance  as 
the  price  of  his  liberty.' 

On  November  i6th  the  regent  and  her  minister  made 
their  entry  into  Paris.  They  found  the  city  mutinous 
and  discontented.  But  a  few  days  before  the  cardinal  had 
been  solemnly  hung  in  efifigy,  and  his  portraits,  arrayed  in 
a  red  gown,  and  covered  with  infamous  doggerel,  had 
been  dragged  through  all  the  public  places  of  Paris.*  A 
serious  rupture  with  the  Fronde  was  also  threateneed  by 
the  demands  of  the  coadjutor. 

'  A  song,  said  to  be  composed  by  Conde  in  the  carriage  during  the  journey, 
was  sold  and  sung  all  over  Paris. 

Get  homme  gros  et  court, 

Si  connu  dans  I'histoire, 

Ce  grand  comte  d'Harcourt 

Tout  couronne  de  gloire, 

Qui  secourut  Casal  et  qui  reprit  Turin, 

Est  maintenant, 

Est  maintenant, 

Recors  de  Jules  Mazarin. 

*  Talon,  400.  *  Brienne,  128.     Retz,  t.  \\.,  passim. 

*  Motteville,  358.  Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  917.  Mazarin  refused  to  offer 
any  reward  for  the  discovery  of  those  who  had  thus  insulted  him. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR    THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.       89 

Retz's  activity  in  public  commotions  had  been  due  less 
to  the  desire  for  emoluments  or  personal  dignity,  than  was 
the  case  with  most  of  his  noble  associates.  He  loved  the 
•excitement  of  intrigue.  He  delighted  in  late  and  hidden 
meetings,  in  midnight  secrets,  in  Machiavellian  maxims, 
in  sending  agents  to  arouse  the  populace  of  the  city,  in 
delivering  long  political  dissertations  to  his  lady-loves  and 
his  associates.  He  loved  to  cruise  about  Paris  at  night, 
disguised  as  a  cavalier,  arrayed  in  a  hat  with  long  plumes, 
and  with  his  bandy  legs  concealed  by  rich  and  magnificent 
garments.'  He  desired  a  large  political  influence,  but  he 
was  indifferent  whether  he  exercised  it  as  a  member  of  the 
queen's  council,  or  as  a  leader  of  the  Parisian  populace. 
He  had  not  been  greedy  for  pensions  or  sinecures,  but  the 
time  had  at  last  come  when  he  resolved  to  demand  the 
only  dignity  which  was  sufficiently  imposing  to  allure 
him. 

The  idea  of  Retz's  becoming  a  cardinal  had  been  fre- 
quently suggested,  and  the  queen,  according  to  his  state- 
ment, had  offered  him  the  nomination  as  a  condition  of 
his  alliance  against  Cond^.  His  family,  and  his  probable 
succession  to  his  uncle  as  Archbishop  of  Paris,  gave  the 
•coadjutor  a  reasonable  expectation  of  some  day  being 
made  a  cardinal,  even  if  he  had  shown  no  political  activ- 
ity and  boasted  no  political  influence.  The  dignity  was  a 
great  one.  It  gave  a  precedence  in  rank  which  was  grati- 
fying to  vanity,  and  it  usually  secured  an  immunity  from 
personal  assault  which  was  valuable  in  politics.  Many 
cardinals  had  been  chief  ministers  in  France.  For  twenty- 
five  years  two  cardinals  had  exercised  an  authority  which 
overshadowed  the  crown,  and  such  power  Retz  hoped 
some  political  revolution  would  bring  to  him.  His  active 
hostility  to  Mazarin  insured  his  favor  with  Innocent  X., 
who  hated  the  minister,  and  Retz's  friends  were  assured 
that  if  he  could  obtain  the  nomination  of  the  French 
•crown,  the  hat  would  be  willingly  and  promptly  bestowed 
by  the  Pope.    It  had  long  been  the  object  of  his  ambition, 

'  Mem.  de  Nemours.     Guy  Joly,  passim. 


go         FRANCE  UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

and  in  the  summer  of  1650,  Retz  formally  demanded  his 
own  nomination  for  the  next  cardinalate  to  be  given  ta 
France,  He  announced  that  the  time  had  come  when  he 
must  be  a  cardinal  or  the  leader  of  a  party.  The  choice 
was  offered  the  Court  of  securing  him  permanently  by  ob- 
taining for  him  this  dignity,  or  by  refusing  it,  of  driving 
him  to  exert  his  influence  in  Paris  to  disturb  the  govern- 
ment and  overthrow  the  minister. 

This  request  was  doubly  odious  to  Mazarin.  He  feared 
the  influence  and  the  ability  of  the  coadjutor,  and  he  knew 
well  that  no  favors  could  hold  him  in  alliance  with  the  ad- 
ministration. If  Retz  were  made  a  cardinal,  there  would 
remain  nothing  by  which  he  could  be  allured.  His  desire 
then  would  be  to  become,  not  Mazarin's  lieutenant,  but 
his  rival  or  his  successor.  There  was,  moreover,  a  strong 
antipathy  between  the  two  men,  which  they  could  not 
conceal,  and  much  less  repress,  even  when  policy  de- 
manded. Mazarin's  private  notes  and  his  letters  to  the 
queen  are  filled  with  complaints  of  Retz's  unscrupulous 
character,  his  intrigues,  his  ambition,  his  faithlessness,  his 
disturbances  of  public  peace,  his  violations  of  private 
morality,  his  contempt  for  the  religion  which  he  professed 
and  the  sacred  oflice  which  he  filled.'  "  God  never  made  a 
worse  man  than  the  coadjutor,"  wrote  Mazarin's  secretary.' 
A  formal  request  for  his  nomination  to  the  cardinalate 
was  made  to  Le  Tellier,  and  he  was  asked  to  send  it  to 
Mazarin.  These  agreeable  despatches,  as  Retz  styled 
them,"  were  received  by  the  minister  while  in  Guienne,. 
and  he  attempted  the  hopeless  task  of  trying  to  cajole  an 
acute  and  experienced  enemy.  Mazarin  wrote  frankly  to 
Le  Tellier,  late  in  August,  that  there  was  no  argument 
that   would   bring   him  to  grant  the  coadjutor  what  he 

'  Garnets, /awj/w,  Lettres  i  la  reine,  1-13,  etc.  Instructions  to  Le  Tellier 
in  supplements  to  Retz's  Mem.,  vols.  ii.  and  iii.  "  The  queen,"  he  writes 
Le  Tellier,  "will  never  nominate  the  coadjutor  for  cardinal,  because  she 
knows  that  he  is  a  very  bad  man,  having  neither  religion  nor  fidelity,  and 
that  all  the  world  knows  him  for  such."  Mazarin's  letters  for  1650  contaia 
constant  complaints  of  the  conduct  and  intrigues  of  Retz. 

•  Instructions  i  Tellier,  September  17.  *  Retz,  ii.,  293. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR  THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.       9 1 

demanded  ;  increased  power  would  only  make  him  the 
more  dangerous,  and  he  would  continue  his  hostility,  hav- 
ing nothing  to  hope  or  fear  from  the  government.'  Tem- 
porizing measures  were,  however,  chosen,  and  the  cardinal, 
relying  as  usual  on  time,  endeavored  to  have  the  matter 
postponed  until  his  return.  It  was  sought  to  satisfy  the 
coadjutor  in  other  ways.  His  debts  should  be  paid,  and 
he  should  receive  some  rich  abbeys  and  preferments." 

Retz  had  his  price,  but  it  was  not  money  and  abbeys. 
To  have  his  debts  paid  was  a  small  temptation  to  a  man 
who  had  lamented  that  at  the  same  age  Caesar  owed  six 
times  as  much  as  he,  and  such  offers  were  contemptuously 
rejected.  Special  endeavors  were  made  to  draw  from  her 
alliance  with  the  coadjutor  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  of 
whose  sagacity  both  the  queen  and  Mazarin  had  a  high 
esteem,  but  she  remained  constant  to  his  cause.  When 
the  Court  had  returned  to  Fontainebleau,  she  went  there 
to  use  in  Retz's  behalf  that  persuasive  skill  in  which  she  had 
no  superior,  and  to  insist  upon  an  answer  to  his  request.* 
Mazarin  held  out  hopes  which,  for  the  moment,  deceived 
even  Madame  de  Chevreuse.  The  matter  was  submitted  to 
the  council,  and  under  cover  of  its  opposition,  a  definite 
refusal  was  given  to  the  request.  The  coadjutor's  hostil- 
ity to  Mazarin  was  inflamed,  both  by  the  refusal,  and  by 
the  fact  that,  from  the  demand  which  he  had  made,  his 
opponents  could  diminish  his  influence  by  claiming  that 
he  was  no  longer  disinterested  in  his  conduct. 

At  the  same  time  that  Retz  suffered  this  disappoint- 
ment, an  important  office  was  given  to  a  man  who  was 
destined  to  be  prominent  equally  from  his  capacity  and 
his  corruption.  Nicolas  Fouquet  had  shown,  in  his  posi- 
tion as  a  master  of  requests,  ability  and  devotion  to 
Mazarin,  and  he  was  now  chosen  for  the  important  office 

'  Instructions  k  Tellier,  August  28  and  29,  1650.  Lettres  de  Colbert,  i., 
33-8.     These  were  written  by  Colbert,  but  under  Mazarin's  dictation. 

'  Ibid.,  September  lyih,  i8th,  et passim. 

*  For  these  negotiations  see  Retz's  account  in  his  memoirs,  ii.,  281-308, 
corrected  by  Mazarin's  private  notes  and  instructions,  and  the  letters  of  Le 
Tellier  from  August  to  December,  passim. 


92        FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

of  procureur  general.  The  place  was  of  great  dignity 
and  of  great  value.  The  holder  of  the  office  was  entitled 
to  receive  from  his  successor  the  sum  of  450,000  livres, 
and  this  great  amount  Fouquet  paid  to  his  predecessor  on 
taking  his  place.* 

These  changes  and  intrigues  did  not  draw  Mazarin's  at- 
tention from  the  external  interests  of  France.  Almost 
alone  among  the  French  leaders  of  the  day,  he  never  for- 
got the  Spanish  armies  during  Parisian  discontents,  and 
he  never  favored  a  Spaniard  to  coerce  a  Frenchman.  A 
desire  to  strengthen  his  own  position  by  a  brilliant  success 
over  Spain  may  also  have  increased  the  cardinal's  zeal, 
and  he  was  always  ready  to  take  active  part  in  a  campaign. 
The  enemy  now  held  a  large  part  of  Champagne,  and 
Mazarin  was  resolved  to  attack  them.  The  king's  army 
had  entered  the  province  under  the  command  of  the 
Marshal  du  Plessis,  and  early  in  December  Mazarin  went 
there  in  person.  It  is  not  certain  whether  the  cardinal's 
early  life  as  an  officer  had  given  him  any  military  knowl- 
ledge,  but  he  had,  at  least,  the  activity  and  the  courage 
of  a  good  soldier."  Timid  when  surrounded  by  intrigues 
and  faced  by  political  discontents,  he  was  bold  in  the 
presence  of  physical  danger,  and  ready  to  take  the  chances 
of  battle. 

Rethel,  a  place  of  some  importance,  was  invested  on 
the  7th  of  December,  and  on  the  14th  it  was  surrendered 
by  its  Spanish  garrison.  Lieut.  General  Manicamp  had 
taken  a  gallant  part  in  pressing  the  siege,  and  in  honor  of 
their  delivery  from  a  foreign  yoke,  the  inhabitants  voted 
that  they  would  give  a  sword  to  him  and  to  the  oldest 
heirs  male  of  his  house  for  all  time  to  come.'  Turenne 
led  an  army  to  the  relief  of  the  town,  but  finding  it  had 
surrendered,  he  fell  back  a  little  distance.  Then  the 
French  came  up  and  he  resolved  to  give  battle.     The 

'  Le  Tellier  4  Mazarin,  October  12,  1650,  Aff.  Etr.  France,  871,  p.  99. 
I^et.  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  825,  881. 

'  Retz  says  that  Mazarin  was  filled  with  the  idea  of  his  military  capacity, 
and  frequently  talked  of  it  with  him,  distinguishing  between  the  government 
and  the  conduct  of  the  army. — ii.,  329.  Retz's  statements  as  to  Mazarin  must 
be  receive<l  with  caution ,  as  many  of  them  are  untrue.       *  Montglat,  239. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR  THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.       95 

French  had  been  for  several  days  under  arms,  working^ 
and  marching  amid  the  rain  and  mud,  and  the  night  be- 
fore they  had  spent  in  order  of  battle  amidst  a  cruel  hail- 
storm, but  they  now  marched  against  the  enemy  with 
alacrity  and  gayety.  The  contest  was  for  a  while  obsti- 
nate, but  it  resulted  in  a  complete  victory  for  the  French. 
Turenne's  genius  and  fortune  deserted  him  when  he 
fought  against  his  countrymen,  and  he  narrowly  escaped 
capture.  His  army  was  entirely  scattered,  and  among  the 
prisoners  were  the  future  Marshal  of  Luxembourg,  and 
that  Jarz6  whose  unfortunate  devotion  to  the  queen 
had  made  him  so  conspicuous.  Three  thousand  of  the 
Spanish  were  made  prisoners,  and  twelve  hundred  men 
were  killed.'  Mazarin  had  not  been  present  on  the  field 
of  action,  though  he  was  near  by  at  Rethel,  from  which 
place  the  battle  took  its  name.  The  army  was  com- 
manded by  the  Marshal  of  Du  Plessis,  who  here,  as  on 
many  other  battlefields,  showed  himself  a  skilful  general 
and  a  gallant  soldier.  The  marshal  found  victory  and 
misfortune  together,  for  his  son  fell  on  the  field  of  battle. 
It  was  too  late  to  besiege  Stenai,  but  it  was  hoped  that 
so  brilliant  a  campaign  would  confound  the  enemies  of 
the  government  and  reflect  especial  lustre  on  the  car- 
dinal, who  had  taken  in  it  so  active  a  part.  But  his 
enemies  had  gone  so  far  that  this  victory,  instead  of  dis- 
heartening them,  stimulated  them  to  greater  activity.  At 
first,  indeed,  they  were  in  consternation.  Weeping  and 
despairing  partisans  wearied  Retz  all  the  night  with  their 
lamentations,  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans  was  dumb  with 
terror.'  But  they  soon  rallied.  Even  the  effect  of  the 
battle  of  Rethel  was  decried,  and  Mazarin  was  ridiculed 
for  trying  to  appropriate  the  credit  of  a  victory  at  which 
he  was  not  present,  gained  over  an  army  which  he  had 
never  seen.*     An  alliance  between  the  followers  of  Conde 

•  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  929-961.  Montglat,  239,  240.  Turenne,  428- 
431.     Du  Plessis,  416-421.     The  battle  was  fought  on  December  15th. 

»  Retz,  ii  ,  336. 

*  Brienne,  127.  Mazarin  in  fact  made  no  endeavor  to  claim  any  merit 
for  this  campaign  to  which  he  was  not  entitled.  He  even  wrote  requesting 
that  his  name  should  not  appear  in  the  reports  published  in  the  Gazette. 


94         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

and  the  old  Fronde  had  long  been  planned,  and  had  been 
the  political  combination  which  Mazarin  had  always 
sought  to  prevent.  These  factions  united,  and  having  the 
assistance  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  could  compel  the 
regent  to  abandon  the  minister  whom  she  had  so  long 
kept  in  power.  Many  things  now  rendered  such  an  al- 
liance possible  and  desirable.  The  unnatural  union  be- 
tween the  Fronde  and  Mazarin  had  been  weak  when  first 
made,  and  had  steadily  grown  weaker.  The  cardinal  did 
not  receive  the  aid  he  expected.  The  Frondeurs  did  not 
receive  the  ofifices  and  favors  they  demanded.  He  was 
planning  to  make  the  government  so  strong  that  it  could 
do  without  their  support.  They  desired  to  keep  it  so 
weak  that  it  must  have  their  support.  And  now  Retz, 
with  his  life-long  hostility  to  Mazarin  inflamed  by  the 
open  refusal  of  a  cardinal's  hat,  was  ready  to  give  up  the 
pretence  of  supporting  the  government.  The  friends  of 
the  princes  claimed  that  Mazarin's  promises  for  their  re- 
lease were  not  fulfilled,  and  the  removal  to  Havre  made 
their  deliverance  seem  more  hopeless. 

In  this,  as  in  many  junctures  of  the  period,  the  chief 
part  in  devising  and  forming  new  combinations  was  taken 
by  women.  The  Princess  Palatine  was  a  second  daughter 
of  the  Duke  of  Mantua.  She,  herself,  early  became  known 
by  her  adventures.  She  was  beloved  by  the  volatile  Duke 
of  Guise,  who  was  then  Archbishop  of  Rheims.  She  in- 
sisted on  the  title  of  Madame  de  Guise,  and  when  the 
archbishop  fled  from  France,  she  dressed  herself  in  man's 
clothes  and  pursued  him.  When  he  had  entirely  escaped 
from  her,  she  returned  to  Paris,  and  resumed  her  name  as 
the  Princess  Anne.  After  this,  she  had  been  married  to 
Edward,  Prince  Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  one  of  the  sons  of 
the  unfortunate  Elector  Frederick.  But  the  French 
women  who  married  foreign  princes  longed  for  their  own 
country,  and  the  intrigues  and  pleasures  of  foreign  Courts 
seemed  dull  and  unprofitable  when  compared  with  those 
of  Paris.  Her  husband  was  jealous  and  poor,  but  she  per- 
suaded him  that  only  by  living  in  the  great  world  could 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR  THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.       95 

one  gain  its  benefits,  and  she  returned  to  Paris  and  there 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  politics  of  the  day.  She  was 
now  thirty-five,  in  the  fulness  of  her  beauty  and  her  intel- 
lect. Retz  declared  her  fit  to  govern  a  kingdom,  and  said 
that  Elizabeth  of  England  was  not  better  able  to  conduct 
a  state.  Her  eulogy  was  pronounced  by  Bossuet,  when, 
over  thirty  years  later,  she  left  the  world  in  which  she  had 
been  so  active,  and  a  very  different  and  more  accurate 
description  of  her  morals  was  given  by  Bussy  Rabutin, 
whose  love  for  witty  scandal  caused  his  ruin.' 

An  active  friend  of  the  princess  in  her  intrigues  was 
Madame  de  Rhodes.  Madame  de  Rhodes  could  claim 
an  hereditary  right  to  shine  among  the  ladies  addicted  to 
•gallantry  and  politics.  She  was  the  illegitimate  daughter 
of  the  Cardinal  Louis  of  Guise  and  of  Charlotte  des  Es- 
sarts,  once  the  mistress  of  Henry  IV.  She  had  married 
a  gentleman  belonging  to  the  family  of  Phillippe  Pot, 
■who  had  gained  prominence  at  the  States-General  of  1484. 
Retz  had  formed  a  close  alliance  with  her,  and  the  libels 
of  the  time  charged  that  she  Was  one  of  the  many  loves 
of  the  coadjutor,  but  as  the  future  cardinal  in  his  memoirs 
speaks  with  freedom  of  all  his  conquests  and  does  not 
claim  her,  the  charge  may  have  been  unjust.* 

The  Palatine  endeavored  to  unite  the  different  political 
interests  by  a  system  of  marriages.  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse  and  Retz  were  to  be  won  by  the  marriage  of  Made- 
moiselle de  Chevreuse  to  the  Prince  of  Conti,  Orleans 
and  Cond6  would    be   bound    together    by   an    alliance 

'  "Carte  Geographique  de  la  Cour,"  vol,  i.,  p.  348.  It  has  been  denied 
that  this  was  written  by  Bussy,  but  its  wit,  its  scurrility,  and  its  indecency, 
are  all  characteristic  of  him.  See  for  other  accounts  of  the  Princess  Palatine. 
Retz,  i.,  261  ;  Mem.  de  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier,  edition  Cheruel,  i., 
283  ;  Tallemant  des  Reaux.  iv.,  538. 

*  A  pamphlet  of  1652  on  this  question,  published  in  M^m.  de  Retz,  ii., 
313,  gives  a  fair  idea  of  the  scurrility  of  the  publications  of  the  time.  The 
morals  of  those  they  attacked  were,  from  their  own  statements  to  the  world, 
quite  as  black  as  they  were  painted.  Retz.  ii.,  189.  The  freedom,  and 
often  the  indecency,  of  the  language  and  letters  of  this  time  are  very  marked. 
Cardinals  wrote  to  duchesses  in  language  that  now  a  scullion  would  not  use 
to  a  harlot. 


96         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

between  the  young  Duke  of  Enghien  and  one  of  Mon- 
sieur's daughters.  All  parties  thus  united,  and  controlling 
the  courts  by  their  parliamentary  influence,  would  compel 
the  liberation  of  the  princes  and  the  overthrow  of  Mazarin. 
This  plan  was  carried  out  almost  as  it  was  originally  de- 
vised. The  Frondeurs  feared  that  Mazarin  would  make 
an  alliance  with  the  princes,  and  they  were  eager  to  antici- 
pate him.  Madame  de  Chevreuse  was  allured  by  the  pro- 
posal to  marry  her  daughter  to  the  Prince  of  Conti. 
Retz's  intimacy  with  the  daughter  was  thought  to  have 
become  only  a  tender  regard,  and  he  now  desired  for  her 
a  safe  and  brilliant  establishment.  Beaufort  was  easily 
persuaded  to  join  the  movement.  The  most  difficult 
task  was  in  resolving  the  doubts  and  fears  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans.  Early  in  December  a  movement  was  begun  in 
the  Parliament  for  the  liberation  of  the  princes.  On  the 
2d  of  December  a  petition  was  presented  from  the  young 
Princess  of  Conde,  praying  for  the  deliverance  of  her 
husband.  On  the  same  day  that  it  was  laid  before  the 
Parliament  the  dowager  Princess  of  Cond6  died.  She  had 
been  the  beautiful  Charlotte  of  Montmorenci,  and  her 
career  was  brilliant  and  romantic,  but  checkered  by  many 
misfortunes  and  attended,  perhaps,  by  more  of  splendor 
than  of  happiness.  She  had  once  expressed  her  regret  that 
Bentivoglio  had  failed  to  obtain  the  Pontificate,  for  then 
she  could  have  added  a  pope  to  the  long  list  of  cardinals, 
princes,  marshals,  and  nobles  of  all  degrees,  who  had  been 
subjugated  by  her  beauty.  As  a  girl  she  had  been  pur- 
sued by  an  enamoured  king,  who  declared  his  adoration  by 
following  her  disguised  as  a  one-eyed  huntsman.'  Forty 
years  later,  when  age  was  coming  on,  she  found  her  life 
turned  into  bitterness  and  sorrow  by  the  imprisonment  of 
both  her  sons.  She  had  never  seen  them  since  they  parted 
on  the  morning  of  their  arrest,  and  their  imprisonment 
and  overthrow  had  wounded  her  affection  as  a  mother 
and  her  pride  as  a  princess.  As  the  end  came  she  saw  the 
vanity  of  the  life  she  had  led.     "  Tell  that  poor,  miserable 

'  Lenet,  230.     Motteville,  360. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR    THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.       97 

woman  at  Stenay,"  said  the  dying  princess  to  a  friend, 
speaking  of  her  daughter,  Madame  de  Longueville,  "  the 
state  in  which  you  see  me,  and  let  her  learn  to  die." ' 
The  daughter,  many  years  before  her  own  end,  was  to  re- 
nounce her  career  of  ambition  and  pleasure  and  make  her 
life  one  long  preparation  for  death. 

While  the  mother  of  Cond6  was  laid  to  rest  from  her 
pomps,  her  loves,  and  her  disappointments,  the  Parliament 
considered  the  petition  of  her  daughter-in-law  for  the  lib- 
erty of  her  sons.  Such  a  request  furnished  an  opportu- 
nity to  demand  the  liberation  of  the  princes,  but  the 
judges  were  in  doubt,  and  they  avoided  the  question  by 
resorting  to  technicalities.  The  rules  of  the  body  for- 
bade a  married  woman's  acting  in  the  name  of  her  hus- 
band, and,  though  here  the  husband  was  in  close  con- 
finement, from  which  he  could  send  neither  petition  nor 
authority,  the  procureur  and  advocate-general,  "  consider- 
ing that  the  solemnities  of  judicial  proceedings  corre- 
sponded to  the  ceremonies  of  religion,"  recommended 
that  the  petition  be  dismissed."  But  an  agent  now  ap- 
peared before  the  courts  presenting  a  letter,  which  he 
said  had  been  signed  by  the  princes,  and  by  them  given 
to  an  attendant  on  their  journey  to  Havre.  This  letter 
was  addressed  to  the  court,  and  asked  for  justice  and  for  re- 
lease from  their  imprisonment  in  violation  of  the  declara- 
tion of  October,  1648.*  These  matters  were  under  discus- 
sion on  the  ninth,  when  the  queen  sent  for  some  of  the 
members,  and,  being  then  ill  in  her  bed,  requested  of  them 
that  the  subject  might  rest  until  her  recovery.  Such  a  re- 
quest could  not  be  altogether  denied,  but  the  Parliament 
was  not  willing  to  wait  long  for  courtesy.  It  was  voted 
on  December  loth  that  the  matter  should  stand  till  the 
14th.  The  regent  complained  that  was  allowing  short 
time  to  a  queen  who  had  suffered  paroxysms  of  fever  and 
had  been  eight  times  bled.*     Notwithstanding  her  com- 

'  Motteville,  360.  "Talon,  403.  *  Lenet,  489. 

*  Talon,  403,  Dis.  Ven.,  cxii.,  100,  et pas.  Journal  du  Parlement,  1650, 
1-9. 


98        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

plaints  and  the  news  of  the  victory  at  Rethel,  the  judges 
proceeded  with  their  deliberations.  The  attacks  on 
Mazarin  became  bolder,  and,  on  December  30th,  solemn 
remonstrances  were  voted,  demanding  the  deliverance  of 
the  captive  princes.  It  was  said  that  the  Parliament  even 
contemplated  the  union  of  all  the  courts  of  France.' 

Upon  his  return  from  Champagne,  Mazarin  found,  in- 
stead of  quiet  insured  by  victory,  disturbance  fostered  by 
the  union  of  his  enemies.  He  was  informed  of  these  pro- 
jected alliances  through  his  system  of  spies,  but  he  seems 
to  have  been  undecided  and  unready  in  meeting  them. 
He  had  himself  been  pleased  with  the  idea  of  marrying 
one  of  his  nieces  to  the  Prince  of  Conti,  but  he  was  unwill- 
ing to  expose  himself  again  to  the  insolent  dictation  of 
Cond^."  He  would  not  consent  to  gratify  the  ambition  of 
a  man  as  odious  and  dangerous  as  he  thought  Retz.  He 
seemed  irresolute,  confused,  and  was  charged  with  using 
a  petty  finesse.'  Rochefoucauld  took  part  in  the  negotia- 
tions for  a  reconciliation  between  Mazarin  and  theCondes, 
and  he  declares  that  the  cardinal  showed  in  them  none  of 
his  usual  ability.*  He  hoped  to  detach  the  vacillating 
Orleans  from  the  alliance,  and  that  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
would  not  assist  with  her  genius  for  intrigue  in  any  plans 
against  himself,  and  he  trusted  that  time  and  his  own 
acuteness  would  divide  the  councils  of  his  enemies.*  But 
their  plans  were  laid  too  discreetly  to  be  thwarted  simply 
by  inaction.  The  cardinal  endeavored  to  have  Orleans 
and  the  regent  agree  on  the  terms  upon  which  Cond6 
should  be  released,  but  the  duke  was  controlled  by  the 
faction   of  the  coadjutor.     A  wiser  plan  was  suggested 

'  Camet,  xv.,  i.  Mazarin  charged  all  the  intrigues  to  the  faction  of  the 
■coadjutor. — 1-4. 

'  According  to  Rochefoucauld,  223,  et  seq.,  he  offered  Mazarin,  by  the  au- 
thority of  Madame  de  Longueville,  reconciliation  with  the  entire  family  if  he 
■would  release  the  princes.     *  Rochefoucauld,  226.     *  Rochefoucauld,  226. 

'  Mazarin's  information  and  views  are  found  in  the  xv.  Camet,  which  is 
filled  with  the  events  of  this  crisis,  p.  1-31.  His  chief  hope  seems  to  have 
been  in  keeping  Orleans  friendly  to  the  Regent.  See  also  Aff.  Etr.  Fr., 
872.,  161,  etc.     Letters  of  Mazarin  to  Le  Tellier,  Nov.  and  Dec,  1650, 


i 


I 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR  THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.       99 

by  Mazarin.  Meetings  should  be  held  of  the  principal 
bourgeois  and  citizens  of  Paris,  and  there  addresses  should 
be  made  pointing  out  the  evils  which  the  city  suffered 
from  these  frequent  disturbances,  and  showing  that  if 
France  could  enjoy  tranquillity  an  honorable  peace  would 
soon  be  obtained  from  Spain." 

On  the  20th  of  January,  165 1,  the  remonstrances  of  the 
Parliament  were  presented  by  M0I6  to  the  regent. 
Though  the  first  president  was  friendly  to  the  govern- 
ment and  often  did  it  good  service  by  checking  or  delay- 
ing the  ardor  and  the  insubordination  of  the  chambers, 
yet,  when  the  Parliament  had  declared  its  resolution,  he 
was  always  ready  to  give  expression  to  it.  His  dignity  of 
manner  added  weight  to  what  he  said,  and  he  was  fearless 
of  utterance  in  any  presence.  Now,  also,  he  was  perhaps 
in  full  sympathy  with  the  demands.  He  had  never  been 
friendly  with  Retz.  Though  Retz  had  a  sincere  admira- 
tion for  the  first  president,  whose  character,  except  in 
personal  intrepidity,  was  so  unlike  his  own,  MoM  had  only 
mistrust  for  the  involved  intrigues  and  the  dangerous 
ambition  of  the  coadjutor.  But  M0I6  had  always  been 
friendly  with  Cond^,  and  the  prince's  long  and  illegal 
detention  shocked  the  judicial  mind.  On  this  occasion, 
he  expressed  the  views  of  the  Parliament  with  a  boldness 
and  a  freedom  that  delighted  the  Frondeurs  and  scanda- 
lized the  regent.  His  majesty,  said  he,  must  know  the 
sad  condition  to  which  France  was  reduced,  and  how 
many  conquests,  won  by  great  expenditure  of  blood  and 
treasure,  had  been  unhappily  lost.  Such  misfortunes 
following  the  arrest  of  the  princes  showed  the  unfortunate 
policy  of  that  act,  which  had  been  the  cause  of  all  their 
evils.  Since  that  unhappy  day,  there  had  been  only 
division,  civil  war,  and  a  decrease  of  the  royal  authority. 
All  well  wishers  of  the  state  desired  the  release  of  the 
captives,  who  were  now  held  where  their  lives  were  in 
danger.  Their  illustrious  services  should  blot  out  all 
light  suspicions.     The  force  of  the  kingdom  was  in  the 

'  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  966,  971. 


lOO      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

union  of  the  royal  family.  With  Orleans  and  Cond6 
united,  nothing  could  overthrow  the  fortunes  of  the 
state.  Therefore  the  king  was  besought  to  release  the 
princes,  that  they  might  continue  to  show  their  valor  and 
expose  their  lives  for  the  happiness  and  tranquillity  of 
France.' 

Mazarin  listened  with  displeasure  to  this  reference  to- 
his  unfortunate  policy,  while  the  young  Louis  showed  his 
impatience  of  any  interference  with  the  dignity  or  omnip- 
otence of  a  king,  and  declared  that  if  he  had  not  feared 
giving  offence  to  his  mother,  he  would  have  silenced  M0I6 
and  chased  him  from  his  presence."  On  the  30th,  the 
answer  of  the  regent  was  given  by  Chateauneuf,  the 
guard  of  the  seals.  It  declared  that  the  intention  of  their 
majesties  was  to  pardon  the  princes  and  forget  the  past, 
but  they  must  wait  for  a  fit  time,  in  order  to  oblige  those 
who  were  in  arms  to  lay  them  down,  and  those  who  were 
in  alliance  with  the  enemies  of  the  state  to  return  to  their 
duty. 

Meantime,  the  alliance  projected  by  the  Palatine  had 
been  completed.  Formal  articles  embodying  its  terms, 
were  signed  on  January  30,  165 1.'  By  these  articles, 
which  were  contained  in  four  separate  treaties,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  princes  should  be  set  at  liberty,  and 
Mazarin  be  driven  from  his  place.  Conde  should  not 
demand  the  office  of  Constable,  nor  make  changes  in  the 
council  without  Orleans'  consent.  To  bind  these  two- 
together,  the  young  Duke  of  Enghien  was  to  be  married 
to  one  of  Orleans'  daughters,  when  the  parties  should 
reach  a  proper  age.  It  was  agreed  in  behalf  of  the 
princes  and  of  Madame  de  Longueville,  that  the  Prince 
of  Conti  should  seek  Mademoiselle  de  Chevrcuse  in  mar- 
riage, and  Conti's  faith  and  honor  were  pledged  that  so 
soon  as  he  was  at  liberty  he  would  wed  her  in  the  face 

'  A  full  account  of  this  speech  is  contained  in  Talon,  405,  406.  These 
transactions  are  reported  as  they  occurred  by  Morosini — Dis.  Ven.,  cxii., 
149,  et  seq.  *  Talon,  406. 

'  A  treaty  by  which  Retz  and  others  bound  themselves  to  labor  for  the 
prince's  liberation  had  already  been  signed. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR    THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.     lOI 

of  our  Holy  Mother  Church.  The  princes  were  to  see 
that  the  Court  paid  the  Duchess  of  Montbazon  within 
two  years  90,000  crowns,  and  she  undertook,  for  that 
amount,  to  control  Beaufort  and  his  followers  in  their 
interests.  The  princes  promised  Orleans  to  honor  with 
their  friendship  his  adherents,  and  especially  Beaufort  and 
Retz.  The  signatures  of  Cond6  and  Conti  to  the  articles 
could  not  be  obtained,  but  some  of  their  friends  acted  in 
their  name,  and  were  authorized  to  negotiate  for  them. 
The  greatest  difficulty  w*as  in  obtaining  Orleans'  coopera- 
tion. His  timidity  and  irresolution  were  excited  to  the 
utmost  at  a  crisis  like  this,  and  by  plans  and  treaties  of 
such  importance.  Even  Retz's  persuasive  powers  were 
insufficient,  and  the  duke  had  to  be  enlisted  almost  by 
force.  Caumartin,  with  the  treaty  in  his  pocket,  caught 
him  between  two  doors,  put  a  pen  in  his  hands,  and  the 
duke  signed  as  if  he  was  signing  a  contract  with  the  fiend, 
and  was  afraid  of  being  surprised  by  his  good  angel.'  It 
was  not  strange  that  Orleans  should  dislike  to  put  his 
name  to  such  a  paper,  for  in  the  July  preceding,  he  had 
signed  with  the  regent  a  solemn  and  very  different  treaty. 
By  that,  it  had  been  agreed  that  under  no  circumstances 
should  the  princes  be  liberated  during  the  regency,  and 
as  it  was  important  they  should  not  be  at  liberty  until  the 
king  was  old  enough  to  manage  the  state,  both  agreed  to 
use  all  efforts  that  the  princes  should  be  kept  in  confine- 
ment for  at  least  four  years  after  Louis  reached  his  ma- 
jority. They  agreed,  also,  that  neither  should  take  or 
allow  any  steps  for  the  princes'  liberation  without  the 
knowledge  and  consent  of  the  other,'  But  where  factions 
represented  only  personal  interests,  and  were  espoused 
and  abandoned  as  pique  or  personal  ambition  suggested, 
it  was  natural  that  political  changes  should  be  rapid. 
Mazarin  charged  Retz  with  having  changed  his  party  six 

*  RetE.  ii.,  326.  These  treaties  are  found  at  the  Bibliothique  Nationale, 
and  are  printed  in  full  in  "  Madame  de  Longueville  pendant  la  Fronde," 
378-382. 

•This  treaty  is  published  in  a  note  to  Retz,  vol.  ii.,  326,  327.  Camets. 
xiv.,  66,  67. 


102       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

times  in  less  than  eighteen  months,'  yet  the  coadjutor  was 
as  the  pole  star  when  compared  with  most  of  his  asso- 
ciates. 

The  queen's  response  to  the  demand  for  the  liberation 
of  the  princes  left  the  hour  of  their  deliverance  postponed 
to  an  uncertain  future,  and  it  was,  therefore,  received  with 
disfavor.  When  it  came  up  for  discussion  on  February- 
first,  Retz  stated  before  the  Parliament,  that  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  had  decided  to  cooperate  and  that  he  would  do 
all  in  his  power  to  obtain  the  release  of  his  cousins. 
Such  a  public  declaration  from  the  uncle  of  the  king, 
and  lieutenant  general  of  the  kingdom,  excited  confidence 
and  enthusiasm  among  the  Frondeurs  of  every  stripe.  The 
coadjutor,  after  vainly  asking  Orleans  to  declare  himself 
before  the  Parliament,  had  with  difficulty  obtained  per- 
mission to  speak  in  his  behalf.  Had  the  declaration  been 
ill  received,  Orleans  could  easily  have  disavowed  it,  and  on 
the  night  after  he  gave  Retz  this  uncertain  authority, 
his  wife  declared  that  the  duke's  labors  over  the  matter 
were  attended  with  greater  pains  than  she  had  ever 
suffered  in  childbirth.'  But  the  applause  that  followed 
the  step  gave  him  new  confidence.  He  avowed  the 
declaration  to  the  judges  and  to  Le  Tellier,  and  on  the 
fourth  he  attended  the  Parliament,  and  spoke  in  person. 
He  declared  that  he  was  wearied  of  the  fair  words  of  the 
cardinal,  and  of  his  failure  to  perform  them.  He  had 
long  indulged  the  queen  on  this  subject,  but  now  the 
state  was  perishing  from  Mazarin's  bad  administration, 
and  Orleans  could  not  allow  the  interests  of  any  one  man 
to  destroy  the  tranquillity  of  the  kingdom.  The  incapac- 
ity, the  inordinate  ambition,  and  the  sordid  avarice  of  the 
Cardinal  Mazarin  were  the  cause  of  all  their  troubles,  and 
he  felt  in  conscience  bound  to  chase  away  their  author.* 

'  Lettres  k  la  Reine,  10-13.  *Retz,  iii.,  'y-i^. 

•  Talon,  409.  Mazarin's  Garnets  during  January  are  full  of  the  endeavors 
made  by  the  regent  to  find  what  Orleans'  really  desired.  ' '  La  Reyne  demande 
4  S.  A.  R.  s'il  veut  en  effet  la  liberie  de  M.  les  Princes  sans  declarer  son 
intention." — 19,  et passim.  As  Orleans'  desires  charged  from  week  to  week 
there  was  difficulty  in  ascertaining  them. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR  THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.     I03 

Orleans  was  a  ready  and  skilful  speaker,  and  both  his  ad- 
dress and  his  rank  added  weight  to  his  words.  Great 
applause,  especially  from  the  younger  members  of  the  In- 
quests, greeted  the  duke's  speech.  All  milder  resolutions 
were  voted  down,  and  the  king  and  queen  were  asked 
forthwith  to  liberate  the  princes  and  to  dismiss  the  Car- 
dinal Mazarin.  The  Parliament  adjourned  till  Monday, 
the  sixth,  to  deliberate  on  the  answer  which  might  be 
given  to  its  petition.'  When  Mazarin  was  endeavoring  to 
keep  the  Duke  of  Orleans  from  uniting  with  the  Fron- 
deurs,  he  had  compared  the  Parliament  to  the  English 
House  of  Commons,  and  its  leaders  to  Fairfax  and  Crom- 
well. This  comparison,  which  was  alike  inaccurate  and  in- 
judicious, Retz  reported  to  the  body,  where  it  was  received 
with  violent  anger  and  protestations.  One  of  the  scenes 
followed  common  in  French  legislative  bodies.  Some 
cried  that  the  cardinal  should  be  instantly  brought  before 
them.  Some,  that  he  should  be  forthwith  dismissed,  and 
that  the  edict  against  foreigners  should  be  enforced.  All 
was  rage  and  tumult.  Mazarin  had  often  accused  Retz  of 
wishing  to  play  the  part  of  a  Cromwell,  and  of  professing 
an  admiration  for  Cromwell's  character,  but  neither  Retz 
nor  his  associates  need  have  been  at  any  pains  to  disown 
the  resemblance.'  They  were  but  a  genteel  travesty  on 
the  great  English  leaders  of  the  Long  Parliament,  and  the 
Fronde  itself  was  a  burlesque  on  the  English  Revolution. 
As  an  immediate  answer  had  been  required,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Parliament  presented  its  request  to  the 
regent  on  Sunday.  The  Duke  of  Orleans,  they  said,  had 
declared  that  he  held  in  such  aversion  the  person  she  had 
established  as  prime-minister,  that  he  could  take  no  part 
in  the  councils  of  the  king.  To  obviate  this  obstacle, 
and  in  order  that  the  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom 
might  again  assist  in  its  government,  she  was  besought  to 
remove  the  minister.     Historical  illustrations  were  given, 

•  Talon,  407-409.     Retz,  iii.,  13,  14. 

•  Lettres  4  la  Reine,  vi.      "  On  a  bu  4  la  sante  de  Cromwell,"  he  says  of 
one  of  their  meetings.     Camet  de  Tours.  43. 


104      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZAKIN. 

from  Justinian  dismissing  John  of  Cappadocia  down  to 
Henry  the  III.  dismissing  Epernon,  which  showed  the 
wisdom  of  such  conduct.  Following  these  examples  by 
dismissing  the  Cardinal  Mazarin,  she  could  grant  relief  to 
the  complaints  of  all  orders  in  the  kingdom.'  Anne  told 
them  to  come  the  next  day  and  receive  her  answer,  but, 
on  that  day,  the  cardinal  himself  solved  the  problem,  by 
abandoning  to  his  enemies  the  place  which  he  had  for  eight 
years  held. 

After  Orleans  declared  his  union  with  the  opponents  of 
the  minister,  every  endeavor  was  made  to  draw  him  again 
to  his  allegiance  to  the  regent.  Anne  reproached  him,  after 
the  announcement  of  February  first,  and  an  angry  inter- 
view followed.  The  duke  left  much  irritated  by  his  con- 
ference with  the  minister  and  the  regent,  and  declared 
that  he  would  never  again  put  himself  in  the  hands  of  that 
madman  and  that  fury."  Anne  endeavored  to  have  Or- 
leans visit  her  again,  to  see  if  a  reconciliation  could  not  be 
made.  Knowing  how  easily  he  could  be  persuaded  to 
any  course,  and  that  when  he  was  exposed  to  personal 
solicitation  from  the  regent,  there  could  be  no  certainty  of 
his  resistance,  Retz  and  his  associates  endeavored,  and 
with  success,  to  prevent  any  interview.  Orleans  sent 
word  that  he  would  never  again  enter  the  Palais  Royal 
while  Mazarin  was  there  ;  besides,  he  had  the  gout  and 
he  could  not  go.  Anne  then  offered  to  visit  him  at  the 
Luxembourg,  but  this  ofTer  was  evaded.  Orleans  told  the 
king's  governor  that  he  would  be  held  responsible  for  the 
king's  person,  and  he  ordered  the  city  officials  to  keep 
guards  about  the  Palais  Royal,  lest  Louis  should  be  taken 
from  Paris.  In  this  extremity,  Mazarin  sent  the  "Marshal 
of  Gramont  to  see  if  some  reconciliation  could  not  be  ef- 
fected with  the  princes,  but  it  was  now  too  late  for  such 
negotiations.'  Unable  or  afraid  to  meet  the  storm  which 
was  aroused,  Mazarin  resolved  to  retreat  before  it.     He 

'Talon,  409-411,  Dis.  Ven.,  cxii.,  164,  165.  The  proceedings  of  the  Par- 
liament are  contained  in  Journal  for  1651,  i.,  9-35. 

'  Retz,  iii.,  p.  6.,  Retz  puts  this  interview  on  January  31st. 
■  AflF.  Etr.  Fr.,  874,  piice  16   22. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR    THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.    10$ 

■was  apparently  no  more  threatened  with  danger  than  he 
had  been  before.  His  hold  upon  the  queen's  confidence 
and  affection  was  unshaken,  and  she  had  the  boldness  and 
the  stubbornness  to  support  him  to  the  last.  But  the 
minister  lost  his  courage  when  the  Parliament,  the  king's 
uncle,  the  followers  of  Conde,  the  old  and  the  hew  Fron- 
deurs  had  all  united  in  demanding  his  overthrow,  and 
when  the  inhabitants  of  the  great  city,  in  which  he  was, 
viewed  him  with  hatred  and  scorn.  Perhaps,  also,  he  be- 
lieved that  his  temporary  retirement  would  strengthen  the 
regent,  and  improve  the  condition  of  the  kingdom. 
Though  his  policy  was  often  selfish,  it  was  more  patriotic 
than  that  of  his  opponents,  for  theirs  was  a  uniform  self- 
ishness, free  from  suspicion  of  regard  for  the  public  weal. 
Mazarin  loved  power  and  he  sought  it  by  tortuous  ways, 
but  he  was  usually  mindful  of  the  interests  of  the  king- 
dom which  he  so  greatly  desired  to  rule,  and  of  the  inter- 
ests of  the  regent,  who  gave  him  so  unwavering  a  sup- 
port. If  he  were  away,  the  demand  for  his  overthrow 
could  no  longer  unite  all  parties,  and  he  trusted  to  his  own 
intrigues  and  to  the  jealousies  of  discordant  elements  to 
dissolve  the  alliance  against  him  which  now  appeared  so 
firmly  united.  His  exile  might  be  very  brief.  He  might 
make  a  speedy  alliance  with  Cond<§,  and  return  under  the 
shadow  of  his  authority.'  At  all  events,  he  decided  to  re- 
tire temporarily  from  the  Court  and  from  his  office.  The 
queen  consented  to  this  step,  as  to  all  plans  on  which  the 
minister  decided,  although  one  of  her  attendants  tells  us 
it  did  not  meet  with  her  approval.  In  such  a  crisis  as 
this,  she  was  bolder  than  her  minister  and  more  reluctant 
to  yield.'  On  the  evening  of  February  6th,  they  had  their 
final  interview.  Whatever  her  feelings  were  at  seeing  the 
man  to  whom  she  entrusted  her  son's  kingdom  and  her  own 
affections  driven  from  her  by  his  enemies,  she  preserved 
the  calmness  of  manner  which  deserted  her  only  when  she 

'  The  last  entry  in  the  Garnets  is  "  Conditions  avec  M.  le  Prince,"  and 
contains  an  unfinished  memorandum  of  terms  that  might  be  made  with  him 
on  his  release.  Mazarin's  diary,  or  Garnets,  were  abandoned  on  his  retreat, 
and  he  never  began  them  again.  '  Motteville,  374. 


I06       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

was  angry.  After  this  interview,  Mazarin  disguised  him- 
self in  a  red  cassock  and  a  plumed  hat,  and  followed  by 
two  gentlemen  left  the  Palais  Royal  on  foot.  He  went 
out  of  £he  city  by  the  gate  of  Richelieu.  There  he  met 
attendants  and  horses  and  went  to  St.  Germain,  where 
he  passed  the  remainder  of  the  night.  The  rumor  of  his 
intended  flight  had  already  spread  through  the  city,  and 
he  feared  being  stopped,  but  the  guardian  of  the  gate  of 
Richelieu  had  been  bribed,  and  he  passed  through  un- 
molested.' 

At  St.  Germain,  he  waited  to  see  what  further  steps 
were  taken  by  the  regent.  Before  he  left  Paris  he  had 
instructed  her  on  the  course  which  she  was  to  pursue.  If, 
even  after  his  departure,  Orleans  and  the  Parliament 
should  continue  in  their  evil  courses,  instead  of  accept- 
ing this  sacrifice  as  sufficient,  Anne  with  the  young  king 
must  leave  Paris  secretly  on  the  night  of  the  7th.  Away 
from  Paris  they  would  have  troops,  fortified  places,  the 
princes  in  their  power,  and  would  be  masters  of  all,  but 
remaining  in  Paris  without  being  its  masters,  they  ran  a 
manifest  risk.  Should,  however,  it  be  impossible  to  es- 
cape, Anne  was,  under  no  circumstances,  to  consent  to 
the  unconditional  release  of  the  princes.  But,  if  this 
also  became  necessary,  Mazarin  resolved  that  the  release 
should  be  granted  by  him,  and  to  guard  against  any 
measures  to  which  she  might  be  forced,  he  obtained  from 
the  queen  a  written  order  to  the  guardian  of  the  priso- 
ners, directing  him  to  execute  all  orders  of  the  Cardinal 
Mazarin  concerning  the  liberty  of  the  princes  of  Conde 
and  Conti  and  the  Duke  of  Longueville,  notwithstanding 
any  subsequent  order  that  might  be  sent  in  her  name  or 
that  of  the  king.  Lastly,  the  young  king  was  to  send  Maza- 
rin a  written  promise  that  he  would  not  abandon  him.' 

On  the  morning  of  the  7th,  Orleans  was  asked  to  attend 

'  Motteville,  375.  Loret,  91.  Letter  of  Morosini,  February  7,  1651. 
Dis.  Ven.,  cxii.,  164-168.     Retz,  iii.,  27. 

•  Camets,  xv.,  pp.  2g,  30.  Letter  of  Mazarin  of  February  8th.  AfT. 
Etr.  t.  26S  ;  t.  267,  311.    Mss.  Bibl.  Nat.,  4209.,  190-93.     Motteville,  387. 


THE  REVOLTS  FOR  THE  RELEASE   OF  CONDE.     10/ 

the  king's  council,  the  offending  minister  having  departed, 
but  the  Parliament  was  not  satisfied  with  this  victory.  It 
voted  thanks  to  the  queen  for  the  dismissal  of  the  cardi- 
nal, but  it  coupled  with  them  another  demand  for  the  re- 
lease of  the  princes,  and  for  a  declaration  that  all  foreigners 
should  be  forever  excluded  from  the  councils  of  the  king. 
Orleans  sent  word  that  he  could  not  go  to  the  Palais  Royal 
till  the  princes  were  at  liberty,  and  the  cardinal  farther  re- 
moved from  the  Court  ;  he  was  now  only  at  St.  Germain, 
and  from  there  he  still  governed  the  kingdom,  while  his 
nephews  and  nieces  remained  at  the  palace.'  On  the  9th, 
a  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  Parliament  that  within 
fifteen  days  Mazarin  must  leave  the  kingdom,  taking  with 
him  all  his  family,  and  under  no  pretext  and  on  no  occa- 
sion should  he  be  allowed  to  re-enter  France.' 

Mazarin's  temporary  retreat  had  led  to  no  reconciliation,, 
and  had  only  encouraged  his  enemies.  The  regent  now 
desired  to  escape  from  Paris  with  her  son.  She  seems  ta 
have  contemplated  leaving  on  the  night  of  the  9th,  but 
the  plan  is  said  to  have  been  revealed  to  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  by  Chateauneuf  and  Villeroy.  Whether  the 
alarm  was  well  founded  or  not,  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
notified  Orleans,  and  Retz  was  aroused  from  his  sleep 
to  go  to  the  Luxembourg  in  all  haste,  and  deliberate  on  the 
measures  to  be  taken.  The  duke  was  found  in  bed,  and 
he  declared  that  the  queen  would  not  take  such  a  step, 
and  that  no  action  was  needed.  But  his  wife  scribbled  an 
authority  for  the  coadjutor  to  call  out  the  city's  forces  in 
order  to  prevent  the  creatures  of  Mazarin  taking  the  king 
out  of  Paris.  The  alarm  was  sounded,  and  the  streets 
were  soon  full  of  martial  shop-keepers  and  mechanics, 
rushing  from  their  beds  to  join  their  companies.  One 
colonel  was  not  found  at  home,  but  his  wife  donned  her 
petticoats,  and  going  into  the  streets  had  the  drum  beat 
the  alarm.  De  Souches  was  sent  to  the  Palais  Royal  to 
see  if  the  escape  had  been  made.  He  insisted  on  entering 
the  king's  chamber,  and  found  the  young  Louis  in  bed 

'  Retz,  iii.,  30,  31.  Talon,  412.    Dis.  Ven.,  cxii.,  167.        '  Talon.  413. 


I08       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

and  the  queen  in  tears,  protesting  that  she  had  never 
harbored  any  such  design.'  However  this  may  have 
been,  it  was  impossible  to  execute  it  now,  and  the  king 
remained  in  Paris  almost  as  a  prisoner.  Soldiers  guarded 
the  gates,  searching  even  baggage-wagons  to  see  if  he  was 
concealed  in  them,  and  marched  every  night  about  the 
Palais  Royal.  Bargemen  patrolled  the  Seine  with  their 
boats  lest  the  king  and  queen  should  escape  by  water. 
*'  The  prince  is  at  liberty,"  said  M0I6  afterwards,  "  but  the 
king,  our  master,  is  a  prisoner."  "  At  least  he  is  not  a  pris- 
oner in  the  hands  of  Mazarin,"  was  the  reply."  Anne  could 
resist  no  longer,  and,  on  the  loth,  she  signed  an  order  for 
the  unconditional  release  of  the  princes.  Her  condition 
was  very  miserable.  She  was  separated  from  the  man  she 
loved,  and  was  hardly  less  a  prisoner  in  Paris  than  Marie 
Antoinette  one  hundred  and  forty  years  later.  "  I  wish  it 
was  always  night,"  she  said  to  her  attendant,  "  for  though 
I  cannot  sleep,  the  silence  and  solitude  please  me,  because 
in  the  day  I  see  only  those  who  betray  me."  ' 

'  Motteville,  378,  379.     Retz,  iii.,  34-37.     Montglat,  246,  247. 
'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxii.,   171-76.     Retz,  39.     Montglat,  247.     Motteville,  380, 
381.    Joly,  46.  •  Motteville,  376. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE   EXILE   OF    MAZARIN. 

Mazarin  saw  that  there  was  no  hope  of  making^ 
terms  with  Orleans,  and  he  therefore  left  St.  Germain 
and  travelled  towards  Havre.  On  the  road  he  was  in- 
formed that  the  queen  had  ordered  the  release  of  the 
princes,  and  he  decided  that  the  only  course  left  for  him 
was  to  grant  the  release  himself.  Such  a  step  might  lead 
to  a  reconcilation  with  Cond6  or  establish  some  hold  upon 
his  gratitude.  He  reached  Havre  on  the  13th  of  Febru- 
ary, before  the  arrival  from  Paris  of  the  messengers  bear- 
ing the  queen's  order  of  the  loth.  He  was  received  with 
the  firing  of  artillery,  and  was  taken  to  the  chamber  of 
the  princes.  He  announced  to  them  their  unconditional 
release,  and  asked  in  return  their  friendship  for  the  king, 
for  the  regent,  and  for  himself.  The  cardinal  tried  to 
assure  Condd  that  his  imprisonment  was  due  to  Orleans, 
while  the  liberation  had  been  granted  at  his  own  solici- 
tations. They  dined  together,  but  the  situation  was  a 
forced  one,  and  Mazarin  seemed  embarrassed.  After  din- 
ner Cond^,  Conti,  and  Longueville  prepared  to  leave. 
Mazarin  followed  them  to  the  carriage,  and,  though  the 
forms  of  courtesy  were  preserved,  as  they  rode  off  Cond^ 
is  said  to  have  burst  into  an  uproarious  fit  of  laughter, 
within  the  hearing  of  the  fallen  minister.'  Mazarin  might 
better  have  saved  his  dignity  than  made  this  humiliating 
and  hopeless  endeavor  to  obtain  the  good-will  of  the 
prince.     Gratitude  was  unknown  to  Cond6,  and  he  felt 

'  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  Feb.  13,  1651.  Mss.  Biblioth^que  Nationale,  4209^ 
197.      Montpensier,  79.     Priolo,  301-305. 

log 


no    FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

under  no  obligations  for  a  release  which  had  been  granted 
when  it  could  be  no  longer  refused.  Retz  said  that  this 
step  of  the  cardinal  seemed  to  him,  under  all  the  circum- 
stances, one  of  the  most  ridiculous  of  the  time,  but  Maza- 
rin  hoped  for  good  results  from  it.' 

Cond6  was  to  show  equal  indifference  towards  those 
who  had  in  truth  gained  his  liberation,  and  who  had  far 
better  reason  to  expect  his  gratitude.  On  the  i6th  of 
February,  165 1,  the  princes  arrived  at  Paris.  The  journey 
from  Havre  of  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  occupied 
three  days.  They  were  received  with  much  enthusiasm. 
The  same  people  who  thirteen  months  before  had 
burnt  fires  from  joy  at  Condi's  capture,  now  had  them 
blazing  in  honor  of  his  release.'  They  were  met  by  Mon- 
sieur, who  had  then  agreed  to  their  imprisonment,  and 
by  whom  they  were  now  solemnly  presented  to  the  Parlia- 
ment. They  supped  with  him  and  with  many  of  the 
political  leaders,  and  the  health  of  the  king  was  drunk  with 
the  refrain,  "  No  Mazarin  !  "  '  But  hardly  had  the  broken 
glasses  been  swept  away,  and  the  cheers  ceased  to  re-echo, 
when  Cond6  and  his  new  allies  began  to  find  cause  for 
variance. 

A  year's  confinement  had  not  taught  the  prince  modera- 
tion or  unselfishness.  His  father  had  been  imprisoned  for 
three  years  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII., 
and  the  remembrance  of  it  had  exercised  a  restraining  in- 
uence  over  the  rest  of  his  life.  Even  his  greed  never 
overcame  his  prudence.  But  the  son  was  of  a  more  un- 
ruly nature.  He  was  fierce  in  his  desires,  impatient  of 
any  sense  of  obligation,  and  unable  or  unwilling  to  concil- 
iate enemies  or  soothe  the  vanity  of  friends.  He  was  re- 
stored to  liberty  under  circumstances  which  promised 
him  absolute  power.  Mazarin  was  in  exile,  the  young 
king  practically  a  captive,  the  regent  discouraged  and 
apparently  powerless. 

His  sister's  reputation  added  to  the  lustre  of  the  family 

'  Letter  of  Mazarin  cited  above.     Retz,  iii.,  40.  *  Retz,  iii.,  42. 

•  Rochefoucauld,  447.     Dis.  Ven.,  cxii.,  178,  180.     Montglat,  246,  247. 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  IH 

name,  and  to  its  overshadowing  influence  in  the  state. 
After  the  release  of  her  brothers  and  husband,  Madame 
de  Longueville  had  returned  to  Paris.  She  had  stayed 
very  contentedly  at  Stenai,  planning  campaigns  with  the 
generals  in  the  morning  and  hearing  them  make  love  to 
her  in  the  afternoon.'  But  she  had  taken  part  in  the 
intrigues  which  led  to  the  liberation  of  the  princes,  and 
had  consented  to  the  alliances  by  which  this  was  secured. 
She  reached  Paris  early  in  March,  where,  the  Gazette  says, 
every  one  applauded  her  heroic  actions."  She  had  achieved 
the  position  for  which  her  soul  thirsted.  To  the  sighs  of 
lovers  were  now  added  the  plaudits  of  statesmen.  She 
was  an  acknowledged  leader  in  French  and  European 
politics.  She  had  made  treaties,  organized  armies,  liber- 
ated princes,  exiled  cardinals.  She  was  not  able  to  bear 
the  intoxication  of  the  position,  and  from  the  hour  of 
her  return  in  triumph  her  political  career  is  a  record  of 
errors.  Cond6  himself  could  hardly  excel  her  in  haughti- 
ness. She  received  with  a  disdainful  smile,  not  only  the 
people  of  Paris,  but  the  greatest  seigneurs  who  came  to 
do  her  reverence."  Over  both  her  brothers  she  exerted  a 
strong  influence,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that,  under  the 
control  of  very  feminine  passions,  she  advised  them  to 
steps  which  were  fatal  to  their  political  position.  Madame 
de  Longueville  was  brave,  adventurous,  and  enthusiastic, 
but  she  had  none  of  the  good  judgment,  the  sagacity,  the 
consummate  tact  which  made  Madame  de  Chevreuse  one 
of  the  great  politicians  of  the  age. 

Meanwhile  the  fallen  minister  was  slowly  making  his  way 
into  exile.  When  he  parted  from  the  princes  at  Havre, 
Mazarin  hoped  that  upon  their  return  to  power  their 
influence  would  be  used  to  favor  his  recall.  Some  words 
uttered  over  their  champagne  at  their  last  dinner  in  cap- 
tivity, he  interpreted  as  promises  of  their  good  offices.* 
Had  such  promises  been  given,  Mazarin  might  have  known 
how  unlikely  it  was  that  they  should  be  fulfilled.    In  break- 


'  Lenet,  353.  '  Gazette,  1651,  296.  *  Motteville,  ; 

*  Aff.  Etr.,  t.  267,  fo.  264.    Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  4209.,  196,  et  teq. 


112      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

ing  pledges  he  found  the  nobiHty  equal  to  the  clergy,  and 
his  hopes  that  Conde  would  ask  the  restoration  of  the  man 
whom  he  had  always  hated,  and  by  whom  he  had  been  kept 
thirteen  months  in  prison,  were  soon  dispelled.  The  minister 
went  to  Dieppe  and  thence  into  Picardy.  At  Paris  the  peo- 
ple were  impatient  at  his  delays,  and  complained  of  eacli 
day  that  the  red  shoes  of  the  cardinal  trod  on  French  soil. 
The  remonstrances  of  the  Parliament  were  so  angry,  that 
the  regent  sent  messengers  to  Mazarin  at  Doulens  direct- 
ing him  forthwith  to  leave  the  kingdom  in  obedience  to 
the  edict.  Secret  messages  of  love  and  fidelity  may  have 
accompanied  the  public  dismissal,  to  which  the  regent  was 
forced.  Mazarin  replied  in  a  dignified  letter,  which  was 
read  before  the  council.  He  should  obey  her  majesty's 
commands,  said  the  letter,  as  her  commands  had  always 
been  the  rule  of  his  life.  Though  unprovided  with  all 
things  needed  for  a  journey,  he  would  forthwith  go  wher- 
ever he  could  find  shelter.  Rather  than  do  any  thing  that 
was  prejudicial  to  the  state,  he  would  yield  to  the  passion 
of  his  enemies,  but  their  own  conduct  showed  they  knew 
how  certain  was  his  fidelity  to  the  king.  Familiar  as  he 
was  with  the  secrets  of  the  state,  they  had  not  feared  to 
expel  him  with  violence,  knowing  that  he  would  never 
turn  his  knowledge  to  the  assistance  of  the  enemies  of 
France.  He  would  gladly  conceal  from  the  latter  the 
return  he  had  received  for  his  labors,  lest  they  should 
wonder  that  a  cardinal,  after  twenty-two  years  of  faithful 
service,  could  find  no  safe  retreat  in  any  nook  or  corner  of 
a  kingdom,  the  boundaries  of  which  had  been  so  greatly 
extended  by  his  pains.' 

The  governors  of  some  of  the  frontier  towns  offered  to 
sustain  the  cardinal  with  their  forces,  and  to  defy  the 
edicts  of  the  judges  at  Paris.'  But  Mazarin  was  not  the 
man  for  such  a  course.  Rather  than  face  the  storm  he 
would  bend  to  it,  and  wait  till  it  had  abated.  More  patri- 
otic motives  had  also   some   influence,  and   deterred  him 

'  Motteville,  383,  384.  This  letter  of  Mazarin's  is  printed  in  Mme.  de 
Motteville's  memoirs.  *  La  Barde,  605.     Aff.  Etr.,  267.,  439. 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  II3 

from  Stirring  up  civil  war,  In  March  he  left  France  and 
sought  refuge  in  the  bishopric  of  Li^ge.  It  was  not  easy 
for  him  to  find  a  suitable  place  for  retreat.'  In  honorable 
contrast  with  Cond6  and  the  leaders  of  the  Fronde,  Maz- 
arin  would  make  no  alliance  with  the  Spanish.  The  king's 
uncle,  the  judges  of  the  royal  courts,  the  heads  of  the 
great  families,  which  enjoyed  honors  and  estates  granted 
by  the  Capets  and  the  Valois,  joined  hands  with  the 
enemies  of  their  fatherland,  in  order  to  gain  assistance  in 
their  revolts  against  their  own  government ;  but  this 
Italian  priest,  in  his  hour  of  exile  and  distress,  would  seek 
no  aid  from  those  in  arms  against  his  adopted  country. 
However  selfish  Mazarin  may  have  been  in  his  personal 
ambitions,  Richelieu  was  no  more  steadfast  than  his  suc- 
cessor in  an  unswerving  endeavor  to  make  France  triumph- 
ant over  all  her  foes.  He  wrote  from  P^ronne  to  the 
Marshal  of  Gramont :  "  I  do  not  tell  you  where  I  am  going, 
for  I  do  not  know.  Wishing  to  live  and  die  a  Frenchman, 
it  would  not  be  well  forme  with  the  Spanish  or  their  allies. 
As  for  the  friends  of  France  they  are  almost  all  heretics. 
I  do  not  think  of  Rome.  I  do  not  hate  the  Pope,  but  the 
Pope  hates  me."'  He  had  with  him  his  nieces,  who,  he 
wrote,  were  a  greater  embarrassment  than  could  be  im- 
agined.* In  April  he  went  to  Bruhl,  in  the  dominions  of 
the  Elector  of  Cologne,  and  there  he  remained  until  Oc- 
tober. He  was  received  with  honor  and  treated  with 
deference.  Briihl  was  a  pleasure  house  of  the  elector,  but 
a  short  distance  from  Cologne.  He  found  the  palace 
furnished  and  adorned  as  was  appropriate  for  a  great  min- 
ister, and  gifts  of  choice  wines  and  savory  fish  cheered 
his  hours  of  exile.*  But  though  the  cardinal  had  at  last 
been  driven  from  France,  he  maintained  a  constant  cor- 
respondence with  Anne,  and  those  of  her  ministers  whom 
he  trusted.  His  enemies  were  quite  right  in  their  claims, 
that  whether  he  was  writing  from  Briihl,  or  conversing 

'  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  4209.,  207,  et  seq.,  Mazarin  k  Tellier. 

*  Letter  of  Mazarin  of  March  10,  1651,  Aff.  Etr.,  268. 

*  Letters  of  March  loth,  published  in  Motteville,  385,  386. 

*  Letter  of  April  1st,  Aff.  Etr.,  267. 


114      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

with  her  in  the  chambers  of  the  Palais  Royal,  the  coun- 
sels of  the  cardinal  controlled  the  conduct  of  the  regent. 

Mazarin's  hope  had  been  that  discord  would  soon 
arise  between  the  jealous  and  inharmonious  allies  who 
were  arrayed  against  him,  and  upon  this  he  based  his 
plans  for  a  return  to  power.  He  was  unable  to  cope  with 
them  when  united,  but  he  had  for  years  withstood  their 
hostility  by  dividing  their  forces.  Anne  obeyed  his  direc- 
tions implicitly,  and  the  burden  of  his  instructions  was  to 
sow  discord  among  the  leaders  of  the  Fronde.' 

Hardly  had  he  left  Havre  when  questions  arose  which 
excited  division  between  the  nobility  and  the  Parliament. 
Seven  or  eight  hundred  gentlemen  had  assembled  in  Paris 
at  the  hall  of  the  Cordeliers.  They  had  met  to  assist  in 
the  agitation  which  was  to  release  the  princes  and  exile 
the  cardinal,  but  when  those  objects  were  accomplished 
they  continued  to  confer  on  the  condition  of  the  country. 
To  heal  the  evils  from  which  their  own  order  and  all 
France  were  suffering,  they  demanded  that  the  States- 
General  should  be  summoned.  Their  convocation  was 
also  asked  by  an  assembly  of  the  clergy  in  behalf  of  their 
order.  It  was  now  nearly  forty  years  since  the  States-Gen- 
eral had  met.  In  the  troublous  times  that  had  inter- 
vened, a  meeting  of  the  States  had  been  several  times 
demanded  and  several  times  promised.  The  demands 
had  been  made  with  no  desire  that  they  should  be  an- 
swered, and  the  promises  had  been  given  with  no  inten- 
tion that  they  should  be  fulfilled.  The  States  had  been 
convoked  for  March,  1649,  but  the  call  was  little  heeded, 
and  the  session  was  indefinitely  postponed.  Cond6  and 
Orleans  seconded  the  demand  that  was  now  made.  Over 
such  an  assembly,  convened  when  the  government  was 
powerless,  they  hoped  to  exercise  control.  Alarming 
rumors  were  brought  to  the  regent  of  the  violent  changes 
which  they  expected  to  accomplish  by  this  means.     On 

'  Such  advice  is  found  in  Mazarin's  letters  at  this  period,  together  with 
constant  suggestions  as  to  the  manner  of  alienating  the  factions.  Anne  fol- 
lowed implicitly  the  directions  she  received. 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  \\% 

September  7th,  Louis  XIV.  would  have  completed  his 
thirteenth  year,  and  the  regency  would  cease  at  his 
majority.  In  a  people  so  strongly  attached  to  a  mon- 
archy as  the  French,  it  was  easier  to  repress  the  unruly 
when  the  government  was  in  the  hands  of  a  king,  even 
if  he  were  only  a  boy.  Regencies  had  often  been  times 
of  disorder.  Those  who  reverenced  a  king  felt  that  they 
owed  to  a  regent  neither  obedience  nor  respect.  Yet, 
with  a  boy  of  fourteen  on  the  throne,  it  was  impossible 
that  his  mother  should  not  for  some  years  keep  an  au- 
thority, which  would  be  the  greater,  because  she  would 
exercise  it  in  his  name.  To  guard  against  this,  to  pro- 
long the  period  in  which  their  own  authority  could  be  un- 
bridled and  their  disorders  unchecked,  it  was  said  that  the 
great  nobles  desired  the  States-General  to  meet  while  Louis 
was  still  a  minor,  and  to  change  to  eighteen  the  age  at 
which  a  king  could  assume  his  authority.  The  regency 
would  thus  be  extended  for  four  or  five  years,  and,  to- 
gether with  this,  it  was  hinted  that  the  assembly  would 
proceed  to  another  step,  depose  Anne,  and  put  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  in  her  place.'  The  first  article  of  the  requests 
of  the  three  estates  would  be  to  demand  that  Mazarin 
should  never  be  allowed  to  return  to  France.  Whatever 
measures  were  seriously  contemplated,  the  regent  looked 
with  apprehension  at  any  meeting  of  the  States-General, 
and  she  found  assistance  in  her  opposition  from  the  active 
hostility  of  the  Parliament. 

The  Parliament  of  Paris  desired  to  obtain  political 
power  for  itself,  and  was  jealous  of  any  meeting  of  the 
National  Assembly,  in  the  presence  of  which  its  own  politi- 
cal role  was  overshadowed.  It  even  claimed  at  times  a 
rank  superior  to  that  of  the  States-General.  The  States- 
General,  said  President  Mesmes,  in  1649,  could  only  pro- 
ceed by  petition,  and  address  their  sovereign  on  their 
knees;  but  the  Parliaments  held  a  rank  above  them,  being 
mediators  between  the  people  and  the  king.* 

'  AfF.  Etr,,  267.,  396-7.     Mss.  Bio.  Nat.,  cited  supra,  310,  325,  328,  355 
et passim.     Letters  of  Tellier  to  Mazarin,  Talon,  423. 
^  Ji.urnal  il    Oimesson.  i.,  f)9S. 


Il6       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

The  great  body  of  nobles  now  gathered  at  the  Corde- 
liers had  convened  by  no  summons,  but  both  from  the 
number  and  the  rank  of  its  members  it  was  justly  consid- 
ered as  a  representative  assembly  of  the  nobility  of  the 
kingdom.'  Irritated  alike  by  their  meeting  and  by  the 
purposes  for  which  they  had  met,  the  judges  of  the 
Parliament  deliberated  on  declaring  this  assemblage  an 
illegal  body  and  ordering  its  dissolution.'  Their  jealousy 
of  another  power  in  the  state  was  reciprocated  by  the 
nobility.  A  few  great  nobles  were  entitled  to  a  seat 
in  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  A  few  ambitious  princes 
and  prelates  fostered  the  power  of  that  body  as  an  as- 
sistance to  their  own  plans.  But  to  the  mass  of  the 
nobles  and  of  the  clergy — to  the  honest  gentleman  of 
ancient  lineage,  who  lived  at  his  chateau  in  the  country ; 
to  the  bishop  who  attended  to  the  spiritual  wants  of 
his  flocks,  instead  of  intriguing  for  a  cardinal's  hat — this 
new  and  enormous  power  assumed  by  a  body  of  lawyers 
was  alarming  and  odious.  "  France,"  said  the  Bishop  of 
Comminges,  "  is  a  body  composed  of  three  members — the 
clergy,  the  nobility,  and  the  third  estate.  A  fourth  mem- 
ber cannot  be  joined  without  there  resulting  a  horrible 
monster."  It  was  shameful,  cried  the  nobles,  that  from 
the  overthrow  of  ancient  laws,  young  scholars,  just  out  of 
college,  should  become  the  arbiters  of  the  public  fortune, 
by  virtue  of  a  piece  of  parchment  which  cost  them  sixty 
thousand  crowns. 

Anne  acceded  to  the  demand  for  a  convocation  of  the 
States-General,  but  she  fixed  the  first  of  the  following 
October  as  the  time  for  their  meeting.  In  behalf  of  the 
nobles  and  clergy,  Orleans  asked  that  the  session  should 
begin  before  the  majority  of  the  king.  The  pertinacity 
with  which  this  was  pressed  excited  the  more  Anne's  ap- 
prehensions of  the  measures  that  might  be  attempted  if 

'  It  was  said  that  in  the  decorum  of  their  meetings  they  set  a  praiseworthy 
example  to  the  assemblies  of  the  judges.  Affairs  were  discussed  with  much 
less  noise  and  tumult  than  in  the  Parliament,  and  the  speaker  was  free  from 
annoying  and  discourteous  interruptions. — Joly,  48. 

•  Journal  du  Parlement,  55-70.     Talon,  423. 


THE  EXILE  OF  MAZARIN,  WJ 

the  States-General  met  while  Louis  still  remained  a  minor. 
She  refused  to  accede.  Orleans  tried  to  excite  her  alarm 
at  the  possible  results  of  the  irritation  of  the  nobility 
and  the  bad  feeling  between  them  and  the  Parliament. 
Should  that  body  pass  a  decree  against  the  nobles,  the 
latter  would  not  suffer  it.  Barricades  would  rise  in  the 
streets  of  Paris,  and  blood  would  run  in  the  gutters.  First 
President  Mold  and  his  son  Champlatreux  would  be  the 
first  to  be  thrown  into  the  Seine,  and  even  the  Palais 
Royal  might  not  be  left  unmolested.'  But  Anne  still 
refused  to  yield.  Some  endeavors  were  made  to  excite  the 
magistrates  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  the  bourgeoisie  to 
join  with  the  other  orders  in  this  movement,  but  they 
were  weary  of  agitation,  and  their  sympathies  were  more 
with  the  judges  who  had  sprung  from  their  midst,  than 
with  the  nobles  by  whom  they  were  regarded  as  Pariahs. 
Condd  also  was  becoming  lukewarm  in  this  measure.  He 
was  allured  by  the  great  promises  which  the  regent  was 
now  making  him,  and  as  his  alliance  with  her  grew  closer, 
his  tics  to  Orleans  and  his  faction  became  looser.  Nor 
was  an  assembly  which  might  possibly  make  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  regent  a  thing  earnestly  wished  by  the  Prince 
of  Conde.  Anne  refused  to  consent  that  the  States- 
General  should  meet  even  one  day  before  the  king's 
majority,  but  she  agreed  that  it  should  be  convened 
for  the  day  following,  which  was  the  8th  of  September, 
and  with  this  promise  Orleans  advised  the  nobles  to  be 
content.' 

To  this,  therefore,  the  assembly  assented,  and  it  there- 
upon dissolved.  Letters  were  sent  into  some  bailiwicks 
directing  deputies  to  be  chosen  for  the  forthcoming 
States-General,  but  before  September  the  most  of  those 
who  had  clamored  for  the  session  had  forgotten  their 
demand,  and  those  who  had  agreed  to  it  found  no  trouble 
in  disregarding  their  promise.  One  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight   years  were  to  pass  before  the  three  estates  con- 

'  Mss.  Bib.  Nai.  4210.,  329,  Tellier  to  Mazarin. 
•  Ibid.^  332,  letter  of  April  7th.     Talon,  423-425. 


Il8      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

vened.'  Had  they  met  during  the  disturbed  period  of 
the  Fronde,  it  is  difficult  to  say  to  what  action  such  a 
body  might  have  drifted.  But  the  sentiments  of  the 
majority  of  the  people  and  the  differences  between  the 
orders  were  such  that  it  is  probable  it  would  have  accom- 
plished little  more  than  the  States  of  1614.  A  revolution 
like  that  of  England  was  not  possible  in  France  at  this 
period. 

In  the  numerous  edicts  which  the  Parliament  passed  to 
hurry  Mazarin  out  of  France,  it  succeeded  in  embroiling 
itself  also  with  the  clergy,  and  materially  dampening  the 
zeal  of  the  coadjutor.  An  edict  had  been  introduced  in 
February  declaring  that  no  strangers,  even  though  natural- 
ized, should  thereafter  sit  in  the  council  of  the  king.  To 
this  was  added  a  provision  that  no  one  should  be  allowed 
to  sit  there  who  had  taken  an  oath  to  any  other  prince 
than  the  king  of  France.  The  object  of  this  was  to 
exclude  French  cardinals  from  acting  as  ministers  of  the 
government,  because  they  took  an  oath  to  the  Pope.  The 
first  person  who  would  probably  be  affected  by  the  meas- 
ure was  Retz,  who  hoped  soon  to  be  made  both  cardinal 
and  minister.  "  There  is  a  fine  echo,"  said  the  Prince  of 
Cond^,  who  bore  no  good-will  to  the  ambitions  of  Retz, 
when  this  proposition  was  received  with  noisy  acclama- 
tions." To  prevent  Mazarin  from  returning  to  power,  and 
Retz  from  obtaining  power,  was  a  measure  of  which  both 
features  were  pleasing. 

But  the  clergy  received  this  proposition  as  one  aimed 
at  the  dignity  and  influence  of  their  order.  Why,  it  was 
asked,  should  those  who  had  received  the  highest  dignity 
of  the  Church  alone  of  all  Frenchmen  be  deemed  unfit  to 
serve  their  country?  If  the  plea  was  urged  that  they 
received  their  office  from  the  Pope,  the  answer  was  plain. 
The  Pope  bestowed  it  upon  those  nominated  by  the  king, 

'  The  proceedings  of  the  Assembly  of  Nobles  are  contained  in  Journal  de 
I'Assemblee  de  la  Noblesse,  1651.  Mazarin  advised  the  regent  to  talk  about 
summoning  the  States-General,  but  "a  les  convoquer  en  effet,  c'est  ce  que  je 
ne  me  saurais  pas  resoudre  de  conseiller." — Aff.  Etr.,  267.  fo.  264.  Mss. 
Bib.  Nat.,  4209.,  196,  et  seq.  *  Retz,  iii.,  43. 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  I IQ 

and  it  was  to  the  king  that  French  cardinals  in  fact  owed 
their  rank.  From  Clovis  to  Louis  XIII.  the  dignitaries  of 
the  Church  had  exerted  great  and  beneficent  influence  in 
the  affairs  of  the  state.  Some  of  the  most  glorious  chap- 
ters in  French  history  were  those  in  which  the  counsels 
of  cardinals  had  guided  the  steps  of  kings.  Why,  now, 
should  those  whose  learning,  piety,  and  talents  had  been 
rewarded  by  this  great  dignity,  be  branded  as  unworthy 
to  become  their  country's  servants  ? 

The  lawyers  and  judges  who  advocated  the  measure 
were  not  lacking  in  arguments.  Those  who  were  chosen 
cardinals,  they  said,  took  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  Pope. 
Even  if  they  owed  to  the  king  their  nomination,  no  sooner 
had  they  obtained  the  dignity  than  they  became  the  sen- 
ators and  coadjutors  of  the  pontifical  power,  and  imagined 
themselves  to  possess  a  portion  of  his  authority.  Clad 
in  the  imperial  purple,  they  sought  first  the  power  and 
glory  of  Rome,  and  afterwards  considered  the  welfare  of 
their  own  country.  By  the  Council  of  Basle,  cardinals  had 
been  declared  the  very  entrails  of  the  pontifical  authority. 
They  were  bound  more  closely  to  the  Pope  than  to  the 
parents  to  whom  they  owed  their  lives,  or  the  sovereigns 
to  whom  they  owed  their  obedience.  French  history 
showed  the  truth  of  these  statements.  The  Cardinal  of 
Amboise  had  used  the  armies  of  Louis  XII.  in  an  en- 
deavor  to  intimidate  Italy  and  compel  his  own  election  as 
Pope.  When  in  1614  the  great  question  was  discussed, 
whether  any  authority  could  excommunicate  kings  and 
release  subjects  from  their  fidelity,  the  Cardinal  du  Perron 
had  stirred  up  dangerous  resistance  to  the  maxims  that 
were  demanded  for  the  safety  of  the  state.  Even  Cardi- 
nal Richelieu  had  advised  the  sovereign  to  release  valu- 
able rights  which  he  held  in  church  property.' 

After  some  delay  Anne  gave  her  consent  to  this  edict  of 
the  Parliament.  Retz  had  made  little  opposition  to  the 
measure.     He  knew  that  as  soon  as  the  king  wished  to 

'  Journal  du  Parlement,  52-54.  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  4210.,  332,  et  seq., 
despatch  of  April  7th.     Talon,  419-422,  427-429. 


120      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

disregard  such  an  edict,  he  would  do  so  without  a  mur- 
mur from  those  who  had  advocated  it  most  loudly.  Such 
was  the  fact,  and  in  less  than  a  year  a  cardinal  was  again 
chief  minister.  As  with  most  edicts  which  enacted  any 
constitutional  change,  the  king  had  no  thought  of  regard- 
ing them,  the  Parliament  no  power  of  enforcing  them,  and 
those  who  clamored  for  their  enactment  sought  only  some 
personal  and  temporary  end. 

More  interest  was  excited  by  the  changes  in  the  minis- 
try. The  regent  had  attempted  to  conciliate  Cond6  by 
the  most  liberal  promises.'  He  was  offered  the  govern- 
ment of  Guienne  in  place  of  that  of  Burgundy,  while 
Provence  was  to  be  given  to  his  brother  in  exchange  for 
Champagne.  These  governments  would  give  them  great 
power  in  the  south  of  France.  Guienne  was  disaffected 
and  the  name  of  Cond6  was  there  one  to  conjure  with. 
He  could,  be  in  that  province  almost  an  independent 
prince,  and  through  his  brother  he  could  exercise  equal 
authority  in  Provence. 

Changes  in  the  ministry  were  also  suggested,  which 
were  acceptable  both  to  Anne  and  to  Cond^.  Chavigni 
had  long  been  in  retirement.  He  was  a  friend  of  Cond6 
and  hostile  to  Mazarin.  But  the  cardinal  now  advised 
that  he  be  again  taken  into  the  ministry,  hoping  with 
him  as  with  Cond^  to  overcome  past  aversion  by  present 
favor.  "  It  is  necessary,"  he  wrote,  "  without  losing  a 
moment,  to  inform  Chavigni  in  advance  of  what  I  have 
done  for  him,  and  of  the  resolution  her  majesty  has  taken 
at  my  supplication."'  On  the  2d  of  April,  Chavigni  ar- 
rived at  Court.  He  was  taken  up  a  private  staircase  and 
received  by  the  queen  in  her  oratory.  On  the  third  he 
took  his  seat  in  the  council.  When  Orleans  found  him 
seated  at  the  council  table,  he  said  to  the  regent  that  he 
was  amazed  to  find  that  without  consulting  him  she  had 
introduced    a   minister   into  the  king's   council.      "You 

'  On  March  14th,  Morosini  wrote  that  Anne's  favor  to  Conde  would  soon 
destroy  the  good  intelligence  between  him  and  Orleans.   Dis.  Ven.,  cxiii.,  7. 
*  Aff.  Etr..  t.  267,  Letter  of  Feb.  25th. 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  121 

have  done  so  many  things  lately  without  consulting  me," 
said  Anne,  loudly,  "  that  you  must  not  be  surprised  if  I 
do  the  same."  Cond6  watched  the  dispute  with  a  mali- 
cious pleasure,  though  he  took  no  part.' 

Another  change  had  been  greatly  desired  by  Anne.  Cha- 
teauneuf  had  been  selected  by  the  Importants  and  by  the 
Frondeurs  as  Mazarin's  successor,  and  the  choice  had  done 
him  no  good  in  the  regent's  eyes.  His  aged  gallantry  made 
him  ridiculous  to  her,  and  his  ambition  and  his  jealousy 
of  Mazarin  made  him  odious.  Condi's  family  were  also 
hostile  to  him.  When  Mazarin  fled  from  Paris,  Chateau- 
neuf  found  himself  in  the  position  which  he  had  so  long 
desired.  He  was  nominally  prime-minister.  He  hoped 
that  now  at  last  offices  would  be  at  his  disposal,  foreign 
politics  be  regulated  by  his  judgment,  masters  of  cere- 
monies would  bow  low  before  him,  and  ladies  would 
overlook  declining  years  in  the  chief  minister  of  the  king. 
His  hopes  were  doomed  to  a  bitter  disappointment.  He 
soon  discovered,  what  every  one  else  discovered,  that  the 
affairs  of  the  crown  were  guided  by  the  minister  at  Briihl, 
and  not  by  the  minister  at  Paris.  Anne  hardly  concealed 
her  disfavor,  and  the  signs  of  coming  disgrace  became 
plain.  Chateauneuf  had  imagined  that  he  might  be  made 
cardinal  instead  of  Retz,  and  he  regarded  the  edict  against 
cardinals  as  one  which  would  be  injurious  to  his  fortunes.* 
He  was  in  little  danger  of  being  affected  by  it,  but  he 
declared  that  he  would  never  place  the  seals  to  such  an 
edict.  Anne  intimated  that  she  would  relieve  him  of  the 
necessity. 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  that  the  queen  approved 
the  edict  in  reference  to  cardinals,  a  messenger  waited 
upon  Chateauneuf  and  demanded  of  him  the  seals.  The 
unhappy  man  surrendered  them,  and  they  were  forthwith 
given  to  Matthieu  M0I6.*      Mold's  courage  and  upright- 

'  Mss.   Bib.   Nat.,  4210.,  335,  et  seq.,  Tellier  k  Mazarin.      Motteville, 

392.  393- 

'  Mazarin  also  suggested  that  Chateauneuf  might  be  nominated  as  cardinal. 
He  doubtless  thought  he  would  be  less  dangerous  than  Retz. 

*  Talon,  429,  430.     Motteville,  393.      Tellier  to  Mazarin,  April  7th. 


122      FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

ness  made  him  popular  with  the  people  without  making 
him  hateful  to  the  regent,  while  for  Cond6  he  had  displayed 
an  active  zeal.  His  nomination  was  one  which  Mazarin 
had  advised,  and  which  was  approved  by  all  except 
Orleans  and  his  immediate  followers.'  The  announce- 
ment of  these  changes  created  mingled  surprise  and 
dismay.  It  showed  that  Anne  was  still  resolved  to  hold 
the  control  in  her  own  hands,  and  it  was  another  proof 
that  absence  had  not  affected  Mazarin's  ascendency. 
Such  an  attempt  by  the  regent  to  exercise  her  own  will 
in  the  choice  of  ministers  nearly  caused  renewed  violence 
in  Paris.  When  Chateauneuf  found  the  seals  of  office 
were  taken  from  him  he  was  plunged  in  an  agony  of  rage 
and  chagrin.  He  regretted  that  he  had  obeyed  the 
queen's  orders,  and  that  he  had  not  gone  to  the  Luxem- 
bourg, demanded  the  protection  of  Orleans,  and  dared 
death  with  the  seals  of  office  rather  than  'life  without 
them." 

In  the  meantime  a  fierce  debate  already  raged  at  the 
palace  of  the  Luxembourg,  as  to  the  course  which  should 
be  followed  after  the  appointment  of  Chavigni.  At  about 
eleven  in  the  night  the  news  was  brought  of  Chateau- 
neuf s  disgrace.  At  the  conference  Orleans,  Retz,  Cond^, 
Beaufort,  Rochefoucauld,  Mme.  de  Chevreuse,  and  other 
leaders  of  the  Fronde  were  present.  Orleans  was  full 
of  fire  and  fury,  and  he  asked  their  advice  on  the  steps 
that  were  proper  in  view  of  the  queen's  endeavor  to  act 
independently  of  their  control.  Several  said  that  a  force 
should  at  once  be  sent  to  M0I6  to  demand  of  him 
the  surrender  of  the  seals.  Retz  advised  that  guards 
should  also  be  stationed  along  the  quays,  dnd  de- 
clared that  Beaufort  and  himself  would  answer  for  the 
populace.  "  I  will  speak  for  myself.  Monsieur,  when  my 
turn  comes,"  sharply  interrupted  Beaufort.  The  com- 
pany were  thunderstruck  by  this  proof  of  internal  dis- 
cord. Cond^  at  once  followed,  and  declared  that  he  was 
not  a  master  in  a  war  of  chamber-pots,  and  that  he  would 

'  Aff.  Etr.  France,  268.,  85.  '  Motteville,  393,  394. 


I 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  125 

confess  himself  a  poltroon  where  brick-bats  and  cobble- 
stones were  flying.  If  Orleans  felt  so  outraged  that  he 
must  begin  a  civil  war,  Cond6  said  that  he  would  retire 
into  Burgundy  and  leave  the  duke  free  to  exhibit  his 
courage  in  Paris.  The  prince  and  his  followers  shortly 
retired  and,  as  they  went  down  the  steps  of  the  palace, 
their  jests  and  laughter  were  heard  over  the  war  of  the 
chamber-pots.  The  women  of  the  conference  demanded 
of  Orleans  to  order  their  immediate  arrest,  but  the  valor 
of  the  duke  had  already  oozed  away,  and  Condi's  desertion 
left  him  in  the  lowest  stage  of  fear  and  uncertainty.  He 
began  to  whistle,  which  Retz  declares  was  always  an  un- 
favorable sign.  Presently  he  slipped  into  his  library  and 
sent  his  farewells  to  the  company.*  The  conference  dis- 
persed and  it  was  followed  by  neither  mobs  nor  barricades. 
Shortly  after  this  rupture  the  engagement  between 
Conti  and  Mile,  de  Chevreuse  was  abruptly  broken. 
After  the  princes  were  released,  they  had  freely  ratified 
the  treaties  by  which  their  liberty  had  been  gained.  Retz 
offered  to  relieve  Cond^  from  the  engagement  to  marry 
his  brother  to  Mile,  de  Chevreuse,  but  the  prince 
angrily  asked  for  what  manner  of  man  he  took  him." 
Conti  visited  Mile,  de  Chevreuse,  whom  it  had  been 
promised  he  should  wed  in  the  face  of  the  Church. 
Pleased  with  her  beauty  he  saw  her  often,  and  seemed 
an  eager  lover.  In  March  great  preparations  were  making 
at  the  Hotel  Chevreuse  for  the  approaching  marriage. 
Three  of  Mazarins  tapestries,  the  .Scipio,  the  Paris,  and  one 
of  green  and  gold,  which  he  had  pledged  to  raise  money, 
were  taken  by  Mme.  de  Chevreuse  to  add  to  the  decora- 
tions of  her  palace.'     This  was  the  most  important  of  the 

'  Retz,  iii.,  57-62,  Motteville,  394.  Rochefoucauld,  250-252.  Dis  Ven., 
cxiii.,  33.  Motteville  says  that  Beaufort  offered  his  services  to  stir  up  com- 
motion in  Paris.  Retz  was  present  at  the  interview  and,  as  he  had  no  mo- 
tive to  color  it,  his  account  is  probably  substantially  correct.  It  is  somewhat 
differently  related  in  a  letter  of  Le  Tellierof  April  7th  Mss.  Bib.  Nat..  4210., 
337,  et.  seq. ,  but  I  do  not  think  that  he  had  as  good  facilities  as  Retz  for 
knowing  what  was  said.  *  Retz,  iii.,  52. 

*  Aff.  Etr.,  t.  267,  Letter  of  April  ist. 


124       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

alliances,  by  which  the  Palatine  had  planned  to  unite  the 
^reat  aristocracy  for  the  control  of  the  kingdom.  Mme. 
de  Chevreuse  was  related  to  the  houses  of  Lorraine  and 
Rohan.  By  her  daughter  she  held  Retz  firmly  bound,  and 
through  her  allies  and  her  political  genius  she  could  exer- 
cise a  great  influence  in  the  councils  of  the  Fronde.  The 
marriage  of  her  daughter  to  the  House  of  Cond6  would 
bring  to  it  more  power  than  the  government  of  Guienne 
or  the  hat  of  a  cardinal.  The  daughter  herself  was  no  more 
immoral  than  most  women  of  her  rank,  and  was  much  more 
beautiful.  It  is  impossible  to  trace  accurately  the  causes 
which  led  to  the  insulting  and  ill-advised  rupture  of  this 
alliance,  but  to  the  influence  of  Mme.  de  Longueville  it 
must  probably  be  charged.  She  had  no  desire  to  see  her 
brother  taken  from  her  control  to  become  the  husband  of 
a  woman  younger  and  more  beautiful  than  herself.  The 
new  Princess  of  Conti  would  take  precedence  of  her.  She 
would  walk  before  her  at  balls  and  make  her  courtesy  first 
at  the  Court.  Her  brother  would  be  controlled  by  the 
beauty  of  his  wife  and  the  sagacity  of  his  mother-in-law. 
It  was  easy  for  Mme.  de  Longueville  to  induce  Cond6  to 
oppose  the  marriage.  If  the  face  of  Mile,  de  Chevreuse 
had  made  any  impression  on  Conti,  this  could  be  dispelled 
by  reports  only  too  well  authenticated  of  the  relations  of  his 
future  bride  with  the  coadjutor. 

The  Condes  hardly  deigned  to  give  an  excuse  for  their 
action.  It  was,  indeed,  stated  that  the  regent  had  refused 
lier  consent  to  the  alliance,  as  made  with  designs  prejudicial 
to  the  state  ;  but  with  Condi's  position  he  could  have  ob- 
tained the  queen's  approval  of  his  brother's  marriage,  if 
he  had  seen  fit  to  demand  it.  Anne,  however,  was  quite 
ready  to  refuse  her  consent,  for  the  rupture  of  this  pro- 
jected alliance  immediately  dissolved  the  great  combina- 
tion that  had  been  so  carefully  and  laboriously  made.  It  had 
lasted  for  two  months  and  a  half,  and  so  had  exceeded  the 
ordinary  duration  of  the  political  alliances  of  the  Fronde.' 

'  This  engagement  was  broken  on  April  15th.  Aff.  Etr.  France,  t.,  874.  p. 
117.   Dis.  Ven.,cxiii.,4i.   Tellieri  Mazarin,  April  28th,  Mss.  4210.,  351,35a. 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  125 

Orleans  continued  inflexible  in  his  hostility  to  the  first 
president,  and  Cond6  consented  to  sacrifice  him  to  the  duke's 
demands.  Such  a  sacrifice  was  the  easier  for  the  prince  be- 
cause M0I6  had  been  active  in  his  behalf  during  his  imprison- 
ment. The  feeling  of  obligation  was  to  Conde  of  all  feelings 
the  most  distasteful.  Beaufort  was  fortunate,  he  said,  be- 
cause he  owed  his  escape  only  to  a  few  of  his  domestics,  and 
so  found  himself  free  without  any  onerous  debt  of  gratitude. 
The  regent  informed  Mole  that  she  must  consent  to  his- 
retirement  to  appease  Orleans,  but  she  besought  him  to 
suffer  with  patience  this  sacrifice  for  the  good  of  the  state. 
She  offered  him  the  nomination  for  a  cardinalate  or 
100,000  crowns  in  money.  M0I6  said  his  nomination  as 
cardinal  would  not  be  favorably  received  at  Rome,  and 
that  the  treasury  was  in  no  condition  to  pay  out  such  a 
great  sum  of  money.  He  retired  with  dignity  to  his  judi- 
cial position,  but  he  was  little  pleased  at  the  loss  of  the 
seals.'  He  did  not  forget  that  Cond6  rewarded  his  ser- 
vices by  desertion,  and  another  powerful  influence  was 
arrayed  in  stately  but  implacable  hostility  against  the 
prince.  The  seals  were  given  to  Chancellor  Seguier,  who 
was  called  back  from  retirement  to  enjoy  again  his 
former  dignity. 

Mazarin,  in  his  letters,  protested  against  the  enormous 
offers  which  had  been  made  to  Cond6,  though  they  were 
made  in  the  hope  of  purchasing  the  prince's  friendship 
for  the  regent  and  himself.  Cond^,  he  said,  wished  to  es- 
tablish his  power  by  the  abasement  of  the  royal  authority ; 
he  was  insatiable  in  his  desires,  he  was  ungovernable  in 
his  passions,  he  was  untrustworthy  in  his  promises." 
Mazarin's  letters  were  full  of  plans  for  his  own  return,  and 
he  complained  often  that  Servien,  Lionne,  and  Le  Tellier 
were  neglectful  of  his  interests  and  deceitful  in  their  pro- 
fessions of  zeal  for  his  restoration.  But  he  did  not  lose 
sight  of  the  interests  of  the  state,  and  he  was  unwilling 

'  Le  Tellier  4  Mazarin,  Mss.,  4210.,  348,  349.  "M.  le  President  a  rendu 
mal  volontiers  les  sceaux  et  tr^s  mal  satisfait  de  ce  changement."  Mazarin 
expresses  his  regret  at  Mole's  retirement. — Mss.,  4209.,  232. 

'  Aflf.  Etr.,  267,  Let.  of  March  9,  1651. 


126      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

that  his  return  should  be  bought  by  making  an  unruly 
prince  more  powerful  than  the  king.  "  The  greatest  hap- 
piness the  cardinal  has,"  he  wrote  the  queen,  "  is  that  his 
return  was  not  stipulated  in  the  accommodation  by  which 
the  prince  was  accorded  establishments  that  sooner  or 
later  would  ruin  the  king;  for  the  cardinal  would  have 
been  in  despair  to  see  himself  reestablished  by  means  so 
prejudicial  to  the  state."  ' 

His  return  had  not,  indeed,  been  secured  even  by  all 
that  was  offered  the  prince,  and  possibly  that  sharpened 
his  reproaches  against  Lionne  and  his  associates  for  hav- 
ing sacrificed  to  Cond6  the  interests  of  the  state."  Gui- 
enne  and  Provence,  he  justly  said,  were  unruly  provinces 
and  adjacent  to  Spain.  Already  Cond6  was  again  nego- 
tiating with  the  Spanish,  and  once  in  command  of  these 
great  governments,  he  could  ally  himself  with  the  king  of 
Spain  and  bid  defiance  to  the  king  of  France.'  While 
Mazarin's  letters  were  full  of  reproaches  towards  Lionne, 
Le  Tellier,  and  Servien,  who  were  regarded  as  his  creatures 
and  believed  to  be  devoted  to  his  interests,  the  devotion 
of  the  queen  was  so  steadfast  that  even  the  cardinal's  sus- 
picions were  not  aroused.  He  had  confirmation  of  her 
good-will  from  her  own  letters,  and  he  received  assurance 
of  it  from  other  sources.  A  correspondent  writes  him : 
**  I  have  the  honor  to  speak  almost  every  day  with  the 
queen,  who  says  that  you  show  distrust  of  those  who  sur- 
round her.  She  is  in  despair  that  affairs  do  not  progress 
as  rapidly  as  she  would  desire.  For  herself  she  would 
give  her  life  to  serve  you,  and  this  she  says  with  incred- 
ible tenderness.  Again,  when  walking  at  Ruel,  she  asked 
me  if  I  had  not  seen  her  emotion  while  there,  because  she 
felt  as  if  she  must  die  of  displeasure  when  she  remembered 
how  she  had  formerly  seen  you  walking  those  paths  amid 
so  much  splendor  and  with  so  great  a  following."  * 

Mazarin's  letters  to  the  queen  are  full  of  protestations  of 

'  Lettres  de  Mazarin  a  la  Reine,  44,  68-70, 

*  Lettres  de  Mazarin  ^  la  Reine,  73. 

*  Aff.  Etr.  France,  267.,  421,  et  seq. 

*  Aff.  Etr.  France,  t.  875,  p.  54.     Cited  by  Cheruel,  iv..  333,  334. 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  \2J 

a  fervid  devotion,  which  show  their  relations  were  not  only 
those  of  subject  and  prince,  but  of  lover  and  beloved.  "  My 
God,"  he  writes  her,  "  how  happy  I  would  be  if  you  could 
see  my  heart,  or  if  I  could  write  you  what  is  in  it.  I  did 
not  suppose  my  friendship  would  deprive  me  of  all  con- 
tentment when  I  employ  my  time  otherwise  than  in  think- 
ing of  you,  but  so  it  is." '  "  Since  your  majesty  wishes 
that  ceremonies  should  be  banished,"  he  writes  again,  "  I 
obey  with  much  pleasure.  *  *  *  There  is  timidity  and 
feebleness  among  my  friends,  but  so  the  world  has  always 
been.  You  must  be  excepted,  for  you  forget  yourself, 
when  there  is  a  question  of  my  interests,  and  as  the  ex- 
ample is  rare,  you  may  infer  what  sentiments  I  have  for 
such  friendship."  '  "All  the  letters  of  the  queen  are  more 
touching  than  those  of  Balzac  or  Voiture,  and  in  eight  days 
they  have  been  read  ten  times."*  "  I  thank  you  for  the 
letters  you  have  sent  me,  and  they  have  greatly  consoled 
me.  I  have  read  them  with  pleasure  for  they  are  so  con- 
ceived that  one  sees  well  it  is  the  heart  which  speaks. 
*  *  *  But  I  would  fain  know  when  the  time  will  come 
that  there  will  be  no  more  need  for  writing  or  reading."  * 
■"  Mazarin  dies  for  the  queen.  If  he  could  send  his  heart 
there  would  be  things  seen  which  cannot  be  imagined."  * 
"  After  reading  the  letter  of  the  queen,  he  was  so  moved 
that  he  wept  for  an  hour.  *  *  *  Those  who  seek  to 
injure  the  cardinal  in  the  mind  of  the  queen  will  gain 
nothing,  for  they  are  united  by  bonds  which  you  yourself 
have  more  than  once  acknowledged  could  not  be  broken 
by  time  nor  by  any  effort." ' 

The  queen  had  gone  far  in  her  efforts  to  please  Cond6, 
in  the  hope  of  inducing  him  to  favor  the  return  of  Maza- 

'  Let.  de  Maz.  i  la  Reine,  30,  31. 

•  Ibid.,  87.  These  letters  are  largely  in  cipher  and  often  in  the  third  per- 
son, but  I  have  translated  them  as  they  were  understood. 

•  Ibid.,  202.  *  Ibid.,  219,  220.  •  Ibid.,  236,  237. 

•  Cipher  symbols  of  affection  constantly  occur  in  the  letters.  "  I  am  a 
thousand-fold  .  .  .  "  he  ends  one  of  his  letters,  using  a  cipher  which 
is  frequently  employed  to  denote  the  affection  between  them.  "  Adieu,"  he 
writes,  ".  .  .  to  the  last  sigh  of  my  life.' — Let.  a  la  Reine,  281,  35a. 
See  also  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  23,202.,  26,  etc. 


128      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

rin,  but  without  success,  and  now  negotiations  were 
actively  carried  on  with  the  other  faction.'  Immediately 
after  the  rupture  between  her  daughter  and  Conti,  Mme. 
de  Chevreuse  had  directed  that  the  cardinal  should  be 
informed  there  were  sure  means  to  serve  him  if  he  would 
advise  the  queen  to  confide  in  her."  The  Princess 
Palatine  was  also  weary  of  her  allies,  and  entered  into  a 
secret  and  confidental  correspondence  with  Mazarin  ta 
aid  his  return  to  power  and  gain  advantages  for  herself. 
Through  Chevreuse  and  the  Palatine,  Retz  was  brought  to 
promise  his  assistance  to  the  cardinal.  After  the  rupture 
which  followed  the  appointment  of  Chavigni,  the  coadju- 
tor had  decided  to  retire  from  politics  into  pious  solitude. 
He  said  that  having  driven  Mazarin  into  exile  and  released 
the  princes,  he  could  now  devote  himself  solely  to  the  du- 
ties of  his  sacred  office..  He  accordingly  announced  that 
he  was  to  enter  the  cloister  of  Notre  Dame  and  attend 
exclusively  to  the  exercise  of  his  profession.  Orleans 
showed  manifest  relief  at  the  retreat  of  this  turbulent  ad- 
viser, who  kept  him  from  the  timid  courses  he  liked  best. 
Conti  congratulated  the  pious  hermit.  The  Prince  of 
Cond^  looked  his  surprise,  and  Madame  de  Longueville 
received  the  farewells  of  Retz  with  indifference.'  In  the 
cloister  Retz  devoted  himself  to  holy  works,  and  even  ad- 
ministed  confirmation  in  several  of  the  parishes  of  the 
city.*  He  did  not,  however,  abandon  himself  so  entirely 
to  Providence  as  to  disregard  human  means  to  protect 
himself  from  his  enemies.  He  issued  various  pamphlets 
filled  with  praise  of  his  own  conduct,  and  with  covert  at- 
tacks on  the  Prince  of  Cond^,°  and  he  went  from  his 
parish  labors  by  day  to  the  Hotel  Chevreuse  by  night. 
His  devotions  at  the  cloister  were  interrupted  by  mes- 
sengers who  summoned  him  to  the  Palais  Royal.  Retz 
visited  the  queen  secretly,  and  declared  that  he  would 

'  Lettres  de  Mazarin  ^  Lyonne,  May  2gth,  June  gth,  14,  et passim.     Aflf. 

Etr.  France,  t.  267.     '  Aff.  Etr.  France,  267.,  358.  Dis.  Yen.,  cxiii.,  54. 
•  Retz,  iii.,  64-67.  *  Joly,  50, 

'  "  Defense  de  I'ancienne  et  legitime  Fronde."     "Avis  disinteresse  sur  la 

conduite,"  etc.,  etc. — Choix  des  Mazarinades. 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  1 29 

compel  Cond6  to  leave  Paris  within  eight  days.  Anne 
assured  him  that  if  he  could  do  this  he  should  receive  the 
nomination  for  the  cardinalate.' 

The  new  allies  at  once  deliberated  on  what  steps  should 
be  taken  to  get  rid  of  the  prince.  He  was  already  dis- 
contented at  the  failure  of  the  queen  to  give  him  all  that 
had  been  promised,  and  he  no  longer  visited  the  Palais 
Royal.  Though  the  Swiss  guards  were  unpaid  and  the 
queen's  household  was  in  need,  money  had  been  given 
Cond^,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  prevent  another  civil  war. 
He  had  received  the  government  of  Guienne,  but  the 
queen  hesitated  about  making  his  brother  governor  of  Prov- 
ence. Cond6  had  lost  the  support  of  many  who  had  been 
eager  in  his  cause,  and  his  greed  and  ingratitude  reduced 
the  number  of  his  followers.*  Retz  advised  that  the  prince 
should  be  arrested  when  he  was  visiting  Orleans,  but  fear- 
ing lest  Cond6  should  be  left  entirely  in  the  power  of  the 
Frondeurs,  Mazarin  disapproved  of  this  plan.'  Some  even 
advised  Condi's  murder,  but  such  a  course  was  shocking 
to  the  queen,  and  Retz  claims  was  equally  distasteful  to 
him.*  It  was  decided,  however,  that  the  prince  should  be 
arrested,  but  the  intelligence  of  this  design  was  at  once 
conveyed  to  him  through  Lionne  and  Chavigni.  Though 
bold  on  the  field  of  battle,  Cond^  was  very  apprehensive 
of  finding  himself  again  in  confinement,  and  a  groundless 
.alarm  caused  his  retreat  from  Paris.'  A  company  of 
guards  was  sent  to  one  of  the  gates,  to  see  about  the 

'  Retz,  iii.,  73-82.  These  intrigues  were  probably  begun  by  Retz.  On 
May  29lh,  Mazarin  writes  the  Abbe  Fouquet,  "  that  the  coadjutor  might 
feel  assured  of  his  friendship." — Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  23,202,  p.  6,  in  cipher. 

*  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiii  ,  6r,  et  seq. 

•  Aff.  Etr.  France,  267.     Mazarin  4  Lyonne,  July  isih. 

*  Different  versions  are  given  of  this,  some  saying  that  Retz  and  Mme.  de 
Chevreuse  suggested  the  prince's  murder,  and  others  that  they  refused  to 
adopt  such  a  plan.  There  was  nothing  in  the  character  of  either  to  make  it 
incredible  that  they  would  be  willing  to  resort  to  such  a  measure,  but  it  is 
not  certain  that  they  advocated  it  in  this  case.  See  Motteville,  398  ;  Retz, 
iii.,  98,  99  ;  Montglat,  251. 

•  Morosini  was  of  opinion  that  Conde's  fear  of  arrest  was  only  a  pretext, 
and  that  his  retreat  was  to  drive  the  queen  to  give  Conti  the  government  of 
Provence.     Dis.  Ven.,  t.  cxiii.,  126. 


130       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

entry  of  some  wines,  free  from  duties.  They  were  ob- 
served by  Condi's  domestics,  and  he  decided  that  this  was 
an  enterprise  formed  against  his  liberty  or  his  life.  He 
resolved  to  fly  at  once,  and  early  in  the  morning  of  July 
6th,  accompanied  by  a  few  attendants,  he  rode  out  of 
Paris,  and  retired  to  his  chateau  at  St.  Maur,  two  leagues 
from  the  city.  In  this  retreat,  where  Catherine  de  Medici 
had  once  dwelt,  but  which  had  now  long  been  a  possession 
of  the  house  of  Cond6,  his  followers  gathered  to  decide 
what  steps  should  next  be  taken.* 

During  the  day  Cond^  was  visited  by  the  Marshal  of 
Gramont,  in  behalf  of  the  regent  and  Orleans,  assuring 
him  there  were  no  plans  against  his  person,  and  that  he 
could  return  in  safety.  The  messenger  had  been  sent  for 
effect,  and  he  was  received  with  disdain.  Cond^  met  him 
in  the  outer  court,  and  in  the  presence  not  only  of  his 
friends  but  of  his  servants.  There  he  informed  the  mar- 
shal that  he  could  put  no  confidence  in  the  queen  while 
she  was  surrounded  by  the  creatures  of  Mazarin.  She 
was  skilled  in  deceit,  and  he  would  trust  himself  to  her  no 
more.  As  for  Orleans,  he  besought  him  to  make  no 
promises  which  he  would  not  be  able  to  keep.'  On  the 
7th  the  matter  was  brought  before  the  Parliament. 
Whatever  secret  negotiations  were  pending  in  Mazarin's 
interest,  the  hostility  to  him  had  as  yet  lost  little  of  its 
fierceness  in  the  Parliament  or  among  most  of  the  politi- 
cal leaders.  Conti,  in  his  brother's  behalf,  complained  of 
the  secret  influence  of  the  cardinal ;  he  said  that  messengers 
were  constantly  passing  between  Paris  and  Briihl,  and  that 
at  Briihl  and  not  at  Paris  was  the  country  governed.  Cond6 
sent  a  letter  to  the  body,  saying  that  he  would  return  to 
Paris  when  the  three  ministers  were  dismissed  who  were 
merely  valets  of  Mazarin.  The  Parliament  was  bitter  in 
its  hostility  to  Mazarin,  and  it  was  unanimous  in  request- 
ing the  regent  to  repeat  what  she  had  already  promised, 

'  Rochefoucauld,  261-7.     Retz,  iii.,  108-115.     Motteville,  398,  399. 

*  Aff.  Etr.  France,  874,  p.  4.  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiii.,  123,  124.  Mss.  Bib.  Nat., 
4210,  Le  Tellier  to  Mazarin,  July  7th.  Morosini  says  Ccnde  spoke  politely 
of  Orleans. 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  I3I 

that  the  cardinal  should  never  be  recalled.  Amid  great 
tumult  it  was  declared  just  that  the  prince  should  be 
satisfied,  and  that  all  vestiges  of  Mazarin's  power  should 
be  destroyed.  Both  Retz  and  Orleans  united  in  these 
demands.  It  had  been  agreed  that  Retz  and  his  asso- 
ciates should  not  be  required  to  undertake  any  public 
defence  of  Mazarin.  To  speak  in  his  behalf  would  have 
deprived  them  of  influence  either  in  the  Parliament  or  the 
city,  and  have  rendered  their  alliance  of  no  value.  The 
only  debate  was  whether  the  regent  should  be  asked  to 
dismiss  from  her  counsels  Lionne,  Le  Tellier,  and  Ser- 
vien,  the  ministers  who  Cond6  declared  were  acting  only 
as  agents  for  Mazarin's  restoration.  It  was  finally  agreed 
that  a  milder  course  should  be  used.  The  queen  was 
asked  to  give  a  new  declaration  against  the  cardinal,  and 
to  grant  to  the  Prince  of  Conde  all  the  surety  necessary 
for  his  safety,  but  the  offending  ministers  were  not  named, 
nor  was  their  dismissal  formally  demanded.' 

The  situation  of  these  ministers  was  doubly  unfortunate. 
Owing  their  positions  to  Mazarin,  he  now  complained  of 
their  remissness  in  his  service.  Lionne  and  Servien  had 
become  special  objects  of  suspicion  to  him,  and  he  charged 
that  they  were  content  that  their  benefactor  should  con- 
tinue removed  from  power  ;  that  they  made  treaties  with 
Condd,  granting  him  enormous  advantages  without  ob- 
taining by  these  sacrifices  the  cardinal's  return,  and  in  all 
things  had  been  guilty  of  duplicity  and  treachery,  which 
made  him  lose  faith  in  man.'  On  the  other  hand, 
Cond6  called  them  the  creatures  of  Mazarin,  who  plotted 
his  return  and  were  governed  by  the  utterances  of  the 
oracle  at  Briihl.  Anne  distrusted  the  ministers  when 
they  were  complained  of  by  Mazarin,  but  viewed  them 
with  favor  when  they  were  accused  by  Cond^.     She  was 

'Journal  du  Parlement,   1651,  12.     Dis.  Yen.,  cxiii.,  124,  125.     Talon, 

435.  436. 

*  Untold  pages  of  Mazarin's  long  letters  to  the  queen  are  filled  with  such 
complaints,  especially  of  Lionne.  These  letters  do  not  show  the  minister  in 
a  favorable  light.  He  appears  suspicious,  impatient,  querulous. — Let.  de 
Mazarin  ^  la  Reine,  128,  134,  135,  165,  169-173. 


132      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

almost  ready  to  dismiss  them  from  inclination  but  very  loath 
to  dismiss  them  under  compulsion.  But  it  was  thought  best 
to  satisfy  Cond^,  that  he  might  be  put  wholly  in  the  wrong 
if  he  persisted  in  his  hostile  attitude.  On  July  19th  Lionne, 
Servien,  and  Le  Tellier  retired  from  office  and  went  to  their 
country  seats.  Le  Tellier  was  most  favorably  viewed  by 
the  queen,  and  he  was  dismissed  with  many  marks  of 
good-will  and  with  assurances  of  a  speedy  return.' 

Cond6  was  ill  pleased  that  the  grounds  of  his  com- 
plaints had  been  so  speedily  removed."  He  cherished 
a  grievance  and  had  little  desire  to  be  without  one.  But 
on  July  23d  he  returned  to  Paris  and  appeared  again  at 
the  Parliament.  The  removal  of  the  ministers  did  not 
satisfy  him,  and  he  now  demanded  that  the  queen  should 
be  required  to  declare  that  their  dismissal  as  well  as  that 
of  Mazarin  was  irrevocable.  But  his  followers  in  the 
Parliament  cried  out  against  constantly  bringing  forward 
new  and  insulting  demands  upon  the  regent,  when  she  had 
promptly  done  all  that  was  required  of  her.  The  measure 
was  lost,  and  this  check  irritated  and  annoyed  the  prince,, 
who  was  offended  by  any  opposition.'  fie  did  not  for 
some  time  pay  the  customary  visit  of  respect  to  the  king, 
though  he  thundered  by  the  palace,  followed  by  a  long 
train  of  carriages  and  accompanied  by  a  great  body  of 
gorgeously  arrayed  officers  and  valets.  At  last  he  made 
a  formal  visit  on  the  king  and  queen.  The  interview  was 
a  frigid  one  and  the  conversation  was  only  on  bagatelles. 
Condd  claimed  that  he  feared  arrest  and  he  did  not  go 
again  to  the  Palais  Royal.*  It  was  evident  that  he  was 
resolved  to  have  the  government  of  all  Southern  France 
given  to  his  family  that  he  might  be  almost  an  inde- 
pendent prince.  Intelligent  citizens  feared  that  Condi's 
power  would  become  so  great  that  there  would  be  little 
prospect  of  quiet  for  the  kingdom.' 

'  Mazarin  made  frequent  complaints  of  Le  Tellier  in  hisletieis  during  the 
early  part  of  the  year,  but  ultimately  he  bjcame  convinced  of  his  fidelity. — 
Mazarin  i  Oudedci,  July  l8th.  *  Dis.  Ven  ,  cxiii..  138. 

•  Talon,  438.  439.  *  Mottevilie,  405.     Dis.  Ven.,  cxiii.,  145,  146. 

•  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiii  ,  r6,  "  Causa  di  poca  quiete  all*  iiiterno  di  quesio  stato." 


THE   EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  1 33 

Mazarin  had  long  cherished  the  hope  that  satisfactory 
terms  could  be  made  with  Cond^.  The  interview  at 
Havre  had  left  his  mind  imbued  with  the  idea  that  the 
prince  was  well  disposed  to  him  and  by  judicious  measures 
could  be  drawn  to  his  support.  But  all  hopes  of  help 
from  Cond(§  had  now  faded  away,  and  Anne,  with  the 
skilful  assistance  of  the  Palatine  and  Mme.  de  Chevreuse, 
turned  her  attention  to  cementing  the  half-formed  alli- 
ance with  the  Frondeurs.  Mazarin's  negotiations  with 
Retz  and  his  associates  had  his  own  return  for  their  final 
object.  Though  not  formally  promised,  this  was  tacitly 
understood.  Few  of  his  new  allies,  however,  desired  to 
see  him  again  at  the  Palais  Royal,  but  they  hoped  that 
the  future  would  enable  them  to  receive  the  advantages  of 
the  alliance  without  having  to  accomplish  its  end.  In  June 
the  cardinal  had  sent  a  secret  messenger  to  Paris  to  see  if 
thetime  was  yet  ripe  for  his  return,  and  he  complained  that 
no  arrangement  was  made  for  his  restoration  or  for  his 
meeting  the  queen.  Servien  wrote  him  that  by  October 
the  condition  of  affairs  would  allow  him  to  return  to  the 
Court.  He  answered  that  he  would  not  wait  till  then,  he 
would  not  wait  a  month ;  Retz  and  Chateauneuf  were 
willing  to  consent  to  his  immediate  return,  were  it  not 
that  his  interests  were  betrayed  by  Lionne,  to  whom  the 
queen  and  the  Palatine  foolishly  and  blindly  committed 
these  negotiations. '  But  the  regent  and  her  advisers 
agreed  on  the  terms  which  they  believed  the  best  that 
could  be  obtained,  and  the  cardinal  was  obliged  to  submit 
to  their  decision. 

During  the  summer  the  articles  of  agreement  between 
the  contracting  parties  were  ratified.  By  them  it  was  pro- 
vided that  the  coadjutor,  in  order  to  maintain  himself  in 
the  confidence  of  the  people,  reserved  the  right  to  speak 
in  the  Parliament  and  elsewhere  against  the  Cardinal 
Mazarin  until  a  favorable  time  came  to  declare  for  him 
without  hazard.  Mme.  de  Chevreuse,  Chateauneuf,  and 
Retz  were   to  do  all  in  their  power  to  detach  Orleans 

'  Lettres  de  Mazarin  4  la  Reine,  154,  et  fnsaim. 


134      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

from  the  interests  of  Cond6,  without,  however,  making 
any  direct  propositions  in  favor  of  the  cardinal.  Chateau- 
neuf  was  to  be  first  minister,  but  the  seals  were  to  be  given 
to  Mole.  Vieuville  was  to  be  superintendent  of  finances 
on  paying  four  hundred  thousand  livres  to  Mazarin.  Retz 
was  to  be  nominated  for  cardinal  and  be  made  a  minister 
immediately  after  the  meeting  of  the  States-General. 
Mazarin's  nephew,  Mancini,  was  to  be  made  Duke  of 
Nevers  and  then  to  wed  Mile,  de  Chevreuse,  whose  matri- 
monial future  was  a  second  time  made  one  of  the  condi- 
tions of  a  great  political  combination.  Various  of  the 
friends  of  the  allies  were  to  be  properly  rewarded,  and 
they  were  to  act  together  in  perfect  confidence  for  the 
ruin  of  Cond^  and  the  advancement  of  their  own  in- 
terests.' 

Unlike  most  of  the  treaties  of  the  time,  almost  every 
article  of  this  was  performed.  Such  a  result  was  perhaps 
due  to  the  fact  that  all  the  parties  to  it  were  acting  in  bad 
faith.  Retz  hoped  so  to  cajole  the  Court  that  he  could 
receive  his  promotion  as  cardinal  without  being  obliged 
to  take  any  steps  to  assist  in  Mazarin's  return.  He  was 
entirely  willing  to  oppose  Cond^,  but  he  had  no  thought 
of  helping  Mazarin.  Chateauneuf  believed  that,  having  ob- 
tained the  position  of  first  minister,  he  could  continue  to 
hold  it.  Mazarin  desired  to  allure  Retz  by  the  nomination 
for  the  cardinalate,  and  to  prevent  his  actually  receiving 
the  promotion.  But  by  force  of  circumstances  the  treaty 
reached  a  more  perfect  fulfilment  than  the  contracting 
parties  had  intended.  Retz  actually  became  cardinal, 
Chateauneuf  was  for  a  while  minister,  and  Mazarin  ulti- 
mately was  restored  to  power.  One  article  was  never 
fulfilled,  that  which  provided  for  the  marriage   of  Mile. 

'  Mme.  de  Motteville,  416-418.  These  articles  were  published  by  Conde, 
and  were  declared  a  forgery  by  the  Frondeurs.  Even  if  the  alleged  written 
treaty  was  suppositious,  and  some  of  its  wording  sounds  as  if  it  might  have 
been  devised  by  an  ingenious  enemy,  the  subsequent  conduct  of  the  parties 
and  the  performance  of  the  alleged  articles  show  that  substantially  such  an 
agreement  was  made.  The  terms  of  it  are  discussed  in  the  letters  between 
Mazarin  and  his  agents. 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  1 35 

de  Chevreuse ;  but  there  was  no  opportunity  for  bad  faith 
in  that.  Within  little  more  than  a  year  death  carried  off 
the  cardinal's  nephew  for  whom  so  brilliant  a  destiny  was 
waiting,  and  the  frail  beauty  for  whom  so  great  alliances 
had  been  planned. 

Anne  was  now  ready  to  declare  open  war  upon  the 
Prince  of  Cond6.  She  sought  to  excite  popular  favor 
by  joining  to  a  pronunciamento  against  the  prince  the 
required  declaration  against  Mazarin.  On  the  17th  of 
August  a  message  from  the  king  was  presented  to  the 
Parliament,  by  which  it  was  declared  anew  that  Mazarin 
was  forever  to  be  excluded  from  the  kingdom.  After  this, 
which  was  a  reiteration  of  what  had  been  proclaimed  be- 
fore, and  was  promised  with  as  little  sincerity  now  as 
then,  the  message  proceeded  to  arraign  the  Prince  of 
Cond6  for  ingratitude,  insubordination,  excessive  greed, 
inordinate  ambition,  and  a  desire  to  turn  the  state  upside 
down.  These  facts,  it  declared,  could  be  no  longer  dis- 
simulated without  abandoning  the  rudder  of  the  state 
which  God  had  placed  in  the  king's  hands,  and  to  such 
disorders  he  was  resolved  to  bring  a  prompt  remedy.' 

The  prince  replied  to  this  attack,  that  he  had  been  un- 
justly slandered  by  his  enemies.  He  doubted  not,  he 
said,  turning  to  Retz  in  the  Parliament,  that  he  was  the 
author  of  this  calumny,  which  was  worthy  of  a  man  who 
had  advised  that  the  seals  should  be  torn  by  violence  from 
one  to  whom  the  queen  had  seen  fit  to  intrust  them,* 
but  he  relied  upon  the  Duke  of  Orleans  to  vindicate  his 
honor.  Orleans'  tergiversations  had  placed  him  in  a  posi- 
tion more  embarrassing  than  usual.  He  had  promised 
assistance  both  to  the  queen  and  to  Cond6.  He  had  heard 
the  declaration  against  Cond^  read  in  the  council,  and 
had  made  some  suggestions  as  to  its  form.*  The  prince 
now  demanded  of  him  to  declare  its  falsity.  In  this  em- 
barrassment he  betook  himself  to  his  usual  resource,  and 
said  that  he  was  ill.    Two  counsellors  came  from  the  Parlia- 

'  Registres  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  ii.,  203-210.     Dis.  Ven.,  cxiii.,  161-6. 
*  Retz,  iii.,  212.  *  Motteville,  407. 


136       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

ment  to  ask  his  attendance  there,  but  he  told  them  that 
he  must  be  bled,  and  he  could  not  come.  Cond6,  how- 
ever, was  not  thus  to  be  put  off.  His  messenger  went  to 
the  duke's  palace  and  compelled  him  to  sign  a  paper,  by 
which  he  stated  that  the  charges  in  the  queen's  declaration 
were  unfounded,  and  that  he  could  not  believe  the  Prince 
of  Conde  guilty  of  any  designs  against  the  king  or  the 
welfare  of  the  state.'  This  certificate  of  character  the 
prince  presented  to  the  Parliament  on  the  19th,  and  de- 
manded his  justification.  Retz  replied  to  Condi's  assault 
on  him,  that  he  had  done  nothing  unworthy  of  a  man  of 
honor,  and  for  any  thing  he  had  said  at  the  Luxembourg 
he  would  answer  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  The  regent  was 
always  pleased  with  a  spirited  conduct,  and  she  now  asked 
Retz  to  carry  on  an  open  conflict  with  the  prince.  For 
this  part  of  his  engagement  the  coadjutor  was  ready.  The 
idea  of  bidding  defiance  to  the  great  Conde,  of  leading 
bodies  of  retainers  and  cut-throats,  of  being  surrounded 
by  gentlemen  and  hired  rufifians  armed  to  the  teeth,  of 
marshalling  his  followers  against  those  of  the  greatest 
prince  in  France,  the  prospect  of  brawls  in  the  streets,  and 
vituperation  in  the  Parliament,  was  congenial  to  his  war- 
like and  turbulent  tastes. 

Volunteers  were  plentiful  in  such  a  cause.  The  Mar- 
quis  of  Rouillac,  famous  for  his  extravagances,  but  as 
gallant  as  he  was  reckless,  offered  his  services  to  Retz. 
Just  after  him  came  the  Marquis  of  Canillac,  whose  char- 
acter was  much  the  same.  He  saw  Rouillac,  made  his 
bow  to  Retz,  and  retired.  "  It  is  not  just,"  he  said,  "  that 
the  two  greatest  fools  in  the  kingdom  should  belong  to  the 
same  party.  I  will  go  to  the  Hotel  Cond^."  Thither  he 
repaired,  and  enlisted  on  the  other  side."  The  Fronde  was 
a  war  of  bon-inots,  and  in  no  period  of  history  was  there 
more  wit  and  less  wisdom. 

On  the  21st  of  August,  between  five  and  six  in  the 
morning,  the  followers  of  Retz  began  to  gather  about  his 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiii.,  166.  Motteville,  410,  411.  Journal  du  Temps  Present, 
54-63.  '  Retz,  iii.,  215. 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  1 37 

house.  Both  he  and  Cond6  were  early  at  the  Palace  of 
Justice,  accompanied  by  great  bodies  of  armed  retainers. 
Retz  had  fewer  nobles  with  him,  but  he  had  a  larger 
following  among  the  people.  The  expectation  of  dis- 
turbance was  such,  that  many  of  the  counsellors  and 
members  of  the  court  had  swords  and  daggers  concealed 
under  their  gowns.  When  Conde  had  taken  his  place,  he 
said  that  he  was  astonished  at  the  condition  in  which  he 
found  the  palace.  It  was  more  like  a  camp  than  a  temple 
of  justice.  There  were  military  positions  taken,  pass- 
words given,  and  companies  acting  under  orders.  He  did 
not  suppose  there  were  persons  so  insolent  as  to  seek  to 
dispute  the  pavement  with  him.  Retz  replied  that  he 
yielded  it  only  to  the  king.  The  presidents  besought  the 
two  opponents  to  respect  the  place  where  they  were  and 
the  safety  of  the  city.  Cond6  at  last  agreed  to  send 
Rochefoucauld  to  direct  his  followers  to  retire,  and  Retz 
said  he  would  give  similar  orders  to  his.  As  he  passed 
into  the  great  hall  of  the  Pas  Perdus,  some  of  Cond<5*s 
followers  drew  their  swords  and,  in  a  moment,  hundreds 
of  weapons  were  brandished  in  the  hall.  A  combat  seemed 
imminent,  but  by  the  exertions  and  coolness  of  a  few  men 
it  was  prevented.  Retz  now  sought  to  return,  but  he 
reached  a  door  at  which  Rochefoucauld  had  stationed  him- 
self. He  tried  to  force  an  entrance,  and  Rochefoucauld 
caught  him  between  the  folding-doors  and  held  him  in  that 
position,  which  was  both  uncomfortable  and  dangerous. 
"  Kill  him  !  "  some  cried,  and  Rochefoucauld  confesses  he 
was  tempted  to  end  Retz's  turbulence  by  a  death  which  he 
thought  was  merited.  The  people  of  the  prince,  he  says, 
did  not  realize  what  a  service  they  could  render  their  mas- 
ter, and  while  they  hesitated  Mold's  son  arrived  and  res- 
cued the  coadjutor  from  his  danger.  He  returned  to 
his  seat  and,  order  having  been  restored,  he  accused  the 
Duke  of  Rochefoucauld  of  having  tried  to  murder  him. 
"  Traitor,"  replied  the  duke,  "  I  care  little  what  becomes 
of  you."  "  Very  good,  Mr.  Frankness,"  said  Retz,  giving 
Rochefoucauld  his  cant  name  among  the  Frondeurs,  "  you 


138      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

are  a  poltroon  and  I  am  a  priest,  we  cannot  fight."  "  I 
lied,"  Retz  remarks  in  his  memoirs,  "  for  Rochefoucauld 
was  certainly  brave." ' 

After  this  scene  of  turbulence  the  queen  asked  Retz  to 
go  no  more  to  the  Parliament,  and  he  accordingly  stayed 
away  and  avoided  further  possibility  of  bloodshed.  The 
injury  to  his  sacerdotal  character,  which  he  claims  to  have 
feared  from  these  brawls,  was  but  slight,  for  it  was  below 
injury.  Some  had  cried  as  he  entered  the  Parliament  i 
"  No  Mazarin,  no  coadjutor.' '  The  familiar  cry  of  "  No 
Mazarin,"  greeted  and  encouraged  Conde  after  his  return 
from  St.  Maur,  but  an  experienced  Frondeur  says  that  men 
had  to  be  paid  to  do  the  shouting.  It  was  not  like  the 
times  past  when  it  needed  no  hired  brawlers,  but  all  the 
world  with  one  accord  cried  "  No  Mazarin,"  and  the  mouth 
spoke  from  the  heart's  fulness."  The  citizens  of  Paris  of 
every  grade  were  wearying  of  these  fruitless  disturbances, 
and  were  beginning  to  think  that  Mazarin  and  order  would 
be  as  well  as  No  Mazarin  and  tumult.  Retz  was  attacked 
as  a  man  who  sold  himself  for  money  and  was  gained  by 
the  hope  of  a  fine  hat ;  who  put  his  favor  at  auction,  was  a 
Frondeur  to-day  and  a  Mazarinite  to-morrow,  and  was  only 
fit  to  sow  schisms  and  preside  among  intriguers.'  Still  the 
advantage  of  this  conflict  was  rather  with  the  coadjutor. 
The  great  Conde  had  been  openly  defied  by  a  priest,  and 
if  the  result  was  evenly  balanced  that  was  shame  to  the 
prince  and  glory  to  his  opponent.* 

On  the  next  day  the  coadjutor  was  in  his  carriage  leading 
the  procession  of  the  Great  Brotherhood,  when  the  prince 
came  from  the  Parliament  attended  by  a  band  of  his  fol- 
lowers. The  two  processions  met  face  to  face.  S6me  of 
the  prince's  followers  cried :  "  The  Mazarinite,"  but  Conde 
stopped  them,  alighted  from  his  carriage,  and  dropped  on 
his  knees  as  the  coadjutor  passed,  arrayed  in  the  vest- 
ments of  his  sacred  oflfice.     Retz  pronounced  upon  him, 

■  For  account  of  this  see  Retz,  iii.,  213-229.  Roche.,  281-289.  Motte- 
ville,  414,  415.    Journal  du  Temps  Present,  64,  65.  *  Jo'X.  52- 

•  Requetesdes  Trois  Etats,  1651.  *  Aflf.  Etr.  France,  876,  130. 


b 


THE   EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  1 39 

and  upon  Rochefoucauld  who  was  with  him,  the  episcopal 
benediction  and  the  procession  passed  on.  "  God  alone 
could  decide,"  says  the  chronicler  of  the  time,  "  if  the 
benediction  was  well  given  and  well  received."  '  Retz 
was  now  in  high  favor  with  the  queen,  and  Mme.  de 
Chevreuse  encouraged  him  to  try  to  gain  still  more  of 
the  royal  affection.  "  Seem  pensive  in  her  presence,"" 
said  that  veteran  intriguer,  who  was  famiHar  with  all  the 
resorts  of  gallantry  as  well  as  of  politics.  "  Look  con- 
stantly at  her  hands,  of  which  she  is  vain.  Storm  against 
the  cardinal."  The  queen  was  a  coquette  and  not  averse  ta 
the  flattery  of  devotion,  but  Retz  soon  found,  to  use  his 
own  phrase,  "  That  though  the  benefice  was  unoccupied, 
it  was  not  vacant."  Neither  Mazarin's  misfortunes,  nor 
his  absence,  nor  his  complaints  loosened  his  firm  hold  on. 
the  queen's  affections. 

The  time  had  now  come  to  which  the  cardinal  and  the 
regent  had  looked  forward  with  eagerness  and  with  anxi- 
ety. Louis  XIV.  had  reached  his  majority  and  the 
perilous  period  of  the  regency  was  ended.  Orleans  and 
Cond6  professed  still  to  desire  the  States-General,  but 
they  insisted  they  should  be  called  to  meet  at  Paris.  The 
queen  would  only  consent  to  summon  them  at  Tours,  and 
the  Parliament  did  not  wish  them  to  meet  at  all.  Maza- 
rin  had  often  written  that  some  means  must  be  found  to 
postpone  them.  While  a  few  deputies  were  elected, 
there  was  little  public  interest  in  the  matter,  and  the  pro- 
posed session  was  omitted  without  exciting  notice  or 
complaint.' 

Louis  XIV.  was  born  on  September  5,  1638,  and  by  the 
law  of  France  attained  his  majority  on  completing  his 
thirteenth  year.  On  the  5th  of  September  two  declara- 
tions were  presented  to  the  Parliament.'  By  one  of  them, 
Cond6  was  formally  exonerated  from  the  charges  made 
against  him.     It  was  hardly  two  weeks  since  they  had 

'  Loret,  150.  Retz,  iii.,  231,  2.  Rochefoucauld,  289,  290.  Dis.  Ven., 
cxiii.,  178.  •  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  4209..  256,  257,  etc. 

*  Talon,  441.  Journal  du  temps  present,  75-77.  The  declaration  against 
Mazarin  was  published  in  the  Grand  Chamber  on  the  6th 


140       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

been  solemnly  proclaimed,  but  now  it  was  hoped  that  by 
this  reparation  the  prince  would  be  drawn  from  his  hostile 
position  and  the  young  king's  majority  would  not  be 
harassed  by  the  revolt  which  was  threatened.  The  other 
declaration  sought  to  gain  public  favor  by  a  denunciation 
of  Mazarin  so  bitter  that  his  worst  enemies  could  have 
asked  no  more.  It  charged  him  with  the  imprisonment 
of  officers  of  justice,  the  waste  of  the  public  funds,  the  de- 
lay of  a  general  peace,  the  ruin  of  commerce,  and  the  con- 
finement of  the  princes.  All  the  violations  of  the  edict 
of  1648  were  said  to  be  the  work  of  that  bad  man,  w^ho 
contravening  the  praiseworthy  intentions  of  his  majesty, 
had  by  his  conduct  justly  excited  the  hatred  and  contempt 
of  the  three  estates  of  the  kingdom. 

On  the  7th  of  September,  the  majority  of  the  king  was 
celebrated  with  a  pomp  and  splendor  not  unworthy  of  the 
reign  so  full  of  pomp  and  splendor  which  awaited  Louis 
XIV.  A  long  procession  of  nobles,  officers,  and  soldiers 
marched  through  the  streets  of  St.  Honor^,  St.  Denis, 
and  over  the  bridge  of  Notre  Dame  to  the  Palais  de 
Justice.  All  were  arrayed  in  that  gorgeousness  of  dress 
which  had  not  yet  faded  into  the  colorless  costumes  of 
modern  times.  They  passed  through  an  innumerable 
crowd  which  thronged  the  streets  and  filled  the  windows 
and  the  roofs  of  the  buildings.  The  lieutenant  of  the 
Swiss  guards  was  dressed  in  a  habit  of  satin  of  the  color 
of  fire.  His  mantle  was  rich  with  gold  and  silver  lace. 
Bands  of  satin  ornamented  his  breeches,  his  shoes  were 
red  and  his  garters  of  silver  and  gold,  while  from  his 
velvet  cap  waved  a  heron's  crest  with  plumes  sparkling 
wdth  diamonds.  The  Count  of  Clere  wore  a  doublet  of 
cloth  of  gold,  with  crimson  breeches  of  Holland  camelet. 
Near  the  king  rode  the  Count  of  Harcourt,  grand  equerry 
of  France,  bearing  the  king's  sword  in  its  sheath  of  blue 
velvet.  His  horse  was  adorned  with  trappings  of  crimson 
velvet.  Finally  came  the  king  dressed  in  a  habit  so 
covered  with  gold  that  neither  the  material  nor  color 
could    be    seen.     "  His   august    countenance,"   says   the 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  I4I 

courtly  chronicle,  "  and  his  mild  and  royal  gravity  made 
him  remarked  by  all  as  the  delight  of  human  kind,  and 
tears  of  joy  were  drawn  from  the  spectators'  eyes  by  his 
grace  and  majesty."     The  reign  of  flattery  had  begun. 

Having  reached  the  palace  the  king  entered  the  Sainte 
Chapelle  and  heard  mass.  Marching  from  thence  with 
one  hundred  Swiss  preceding  him  and  beating  their 
drums,  he  entered  the  Grand  Chamber  to  hold  his  bed  of 
justice.  The  officers  of  the  courts,  bishops  and  archbish- 
ops, marshals  of  France,  and  the  great  nobility  of  the 
kingdom  were  there  assembled.  "  I  have  come  to  my 
Parliament,"  said  Louis,  "to  announce  that  according  to- 
the  law  of  my  state,  I  wish  to  assume  myself  the  govern- 
ment, and  I  hope,  by  the  goodness  of  God,  that  it  will  be 
administered  with  piety  and  justice."  The  queen  then 
addressed  her  son  and  said  that  for  nine  years  she  had  had 
charge  of  his  education  and  of  the  government  of  the 
state,  God  had  blessed  her  labors  and  preserved  the  per- 
son, which  was  so  dear  to  her  and  to  his  subjects.  She 
now  gladly  resigned  her  power,  and  hoped  God  would 
give  the  king  grace  to  make  his  reign  happy.  "  I  thank 
you,  madame,"  Louis  replied,  "  for  the  care  you  have 
taken  of  my  education  and  of  my  kingdom.  I  pray  you 
to  continue  to  give  me  your  good  advice."  The  king's 
brother  and  those  present  then  rendered  their  homage. 
Edicts  in  favor  of  Cond6  and  against  duelling  and  blas- 
phemy were  read  and  approved.  After  this  the  advocate- 
general,  Omer  Talon,  addressed  the  king.  From  Hector 
of  Troy,  from  Alexander  and  Augustus,  from  the  armor 
of  Minerva  and  the  prophet  addressing  Joshua,  the  orator 
drew  lessons  and  illustrations  for  the  young  king.  "  The 
speech  of  the  advocate-general,"  says  a  contemporary, 
"  was  very  eloquent,  but  so  long  that  it  wearied  all  the 
company."  It  ended  at  last,  and  the  procession  returned 
to  the  Palais  Royal.  The  fountains  ran  wine  instead  of 
water.  In  the  evening  illuminations  and  fireworks  made 
the  night  as  the  day.  ''  The  earth,"  says  the  enthusiastic 
gazetteer,  "  added  countless  artificial   stars   to    those   of 


142      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHEUEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

heaven,  as  if  to  contest  the  glory  of  lighting  this  happy 
night,  when  joy  was  spread  over  all  France.' 

Thus  auspiciously  commenced  the  reign  of  Louis  the 
Great,  but  ten  years  were  to  elapse  before  the  king  him- 
self began  to  rule.  Though  legally  invested  with  the 
government,  Louis  took  little  more  part  in  its  control  than 
he  had  for  the  eight  years  that  had  already  passed  since  he 
became  a  king.  Physically  he  was  tall  and  well-developed, 
but  his  intellectual  qualities,  never  brilliant,  were  of  slow 
growth.  It  has  been  charged  that  Mazarin  neglected  and 
stunted  his  education,  in  order  longer  to  preserve  his  own 
power.  There  is  nothing  but  the  malice  of  enemies  and 
the  gossip  of  untrustworthy  servants  on  which  to  base  any 
such  charge.  Louis  received  little  literary  culture,  but  he 
received  as  much  as  most  of  those  of  high  rank.  His  life 
showed  that  his  training  was  sufficient  to  develop,  fully 
and  strongly,  the  natural  tendencies  of  his  character.  He 
was  not  fond  of  books,  and  probably  little  endeavor  was 
made  to  compel  a  royal  pupil  to  study  what  was  distaste- 
ful. But  the  regent  and  the  cardinal  seem  to  have  taken 
an  interest  in  his  full  physical  development,  and  in  imbu- 
ing his  mind  with  those  views  which  they  deemed  of  im- 
portance for  his  future  course.  Louis  submitted  gladly 
to  Mazarin's  control  while  he  was  a  youth,  and  in  his  ma- 
ture life  he  cherished  no  feeling  that  his  character  had 
been  moulded  and  trained  otherwise  than  he  himself 
would  have  wished.*    Though  the  young  king  took  as  yet 

•  Talon,  441-446.  Choix  des  Mazarinades,  ii.,  310-313.  See  account 
copied  in  Motteville,  418-422.  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiii.,  185,  etc.  Journal  du 
Bourgeois  de  Paris,  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  10,275. 

*  This  view  of  Louis  XlVth's  education  is  not  taken  by  all.  It  is,  bow- 
ever,  I  think,  correct.  The  letters  of  Mazarin  and  the  queen  show  an  inter- 
est, both  active  and  rational,  in  their  charge.  The  complaints  of  La  Porte, 
on  which  many  base  their  opinion,  I  regard  as  of  very  little  value.  He  was 
a  disappointed  and  untrustworthy  courtier.  St.  Simon,  in  a  well-known  pas- 
sage (xii.,  13,  et  seq.),  has  complained  of  the  neglect  of  Louis'  education.  His 
strong  prejudices  do  not  prevent  St.  Simon's  statements  from  having  great 
value.  There  is  no  doubt  Louis  was  not  a  well-educated  man,  but  there  is 
nothing  to  show  any  intentional  or  specially  blameworthy  neglect  of  his  early 
training. 


THE  EXILE   OF  MAZARIN.  1 43 

little  part  in  the  control  of  his  government,  he  commenced 
that  life  of  solemn  and  wearisome  display  which  for  sixty- 
four  years  constituted  in  his  own  eyes  and  those  of  the 
world  so  important  a  part  of  his  existence.  The  first  valet 
of  the  chamber  awakened  him.  His  grand  chamberlain  and 
those  who  had  the  first  entry  came  to  view  him  when  he 
liad  donned  his  shirt.  The  first  gentleman  of  the  cham- 
ber presented  the  holy  water.  The  great  multitude  of 
those  entitled  to  the  second  entry  found  the  king  putting 
on  his  shoes,  which  he  did  himself  with  skill  and  grace. 
They  saw  him  kneel  at  his  bed  to  say  his  prayers,  and  the 
clergy,  and  even  the  cardinals,  who  were  there,  knelt  also. 
His  meals  were  served  and  watched,  his  devotions  offered, 
his  pleasures  pursued  with  the  same  elaborate  ceremonial, 
when  he  was  a  boy  at  the  Palais  Royal,  and  when  he  was 
an  old  and  broken  down  man  at  Versailles,  and  of  this 
his  somewhat  stolid  mind  never  wearied  during  more  than 
sixty  long  years. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

conde's  rebellion  and  mazarin's  return. 

The  confidence  which  the  government  gained  froni 
Louis'  reaching  his  majority,  was  at  once  shown  by  some 
changes  in  the  ministry.  They  were  mostly  those  that  had 
been  agreed  on  in  the  alHance  with  the  Frondeurs,  but  they 
were  made  without  asking  the  consent  of  either  Cond6  or 
Orleans.  The  seals  were  taken  from  Chancellor  Seguier, 
and  again  given  to  Mol^.  Chateauneuf  was  made  chief 
of  the  Council  of  Despatches,  and  was  regarded  as  first 
minister.  The  Marquis  of  Vieuville  was  made  a  duke  and 
superintendent  of  the  finances,  a  promotion  which  he 
owed  to  the  friendly  ofifices  of  the  Palatine.  He  was  a 
man  about  seventy  years  of  age.  In  1623  he  had  been 
appointed  to  the  same  office  which  he  now  obtained.  He 
had  been  justly  charged  with  corruption  and  removed  by 
Richelieu.  In  his  resentment  he  afterwards  became  im- 
plicated in  the  plots  and  intrigues  of  Monsieur  and  of 
Mary  de  Medici.  His  estate  was  declared  confiscated, 
and  he  was  condemned  to  death  for  contumacy  in  failing 
to  appear  before  some  court  appointed  for  his  trial.  After 
the  cardinal's  death  he  had  been  declared  innocent  by  the 
Parliament,  and  had  begun  again  a  career  of  unsuccessful  in- 
trigue. Now,  at  last,  his  ambition  found  a  strong  support 
in  the  favor  of  the  Princess  Palatine  for  his  son.  By  her 
intrigues,  and  by  the  promise  of  400,000  livres  in  ready 
money  to  Mazarin,  he  again  obtained  the  office  which  he 
had  held  thirty-eight  years  before.  He  was  to  have  a 
brief  enjoyment  of  it,  and  then  to  have  his  ambitions  and 
intrigues  quieted  in  the  grave. 

144 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    1 45 

The  queen  had  already  gratified  her  own  desires  by 
dismissing  Chavigni.  Mazarin's  recommendation  of  him 
in  the  spring  had  done  nothing  towards  removing  the 
rancor  which  for  eight  years  had  festered  in  Chavigni's 
mind.'  The  cardinal  justly  regarded  him  as  one  of  his 
ablest  and  bitterest  opponents,  and  the  queen  viewed  all 
men  through  Mazarin's  eyes,  and  dismissed  him  from  office. 

The  first  prince  of  the  blood  had  been  conspicuous  by 
his  absence  at  the  celebration  of  the  majority  of  Louis 
XIV.  Refusing  to  be  appeased  by  the  public  declaration 
of  his  innocence,  Cond6  retired  to  meditate  rebellion  at 
Trie.  He  was  now  in  a  position  where  he  must  either 
make  his  peace  with  the  government,  or  soon  find  himself 
in  armed  rebellion  against  it.  There  had  gathered  at  St. 
Maur  a  great  number  of  partisans  and  nobles  to  consult 
and  join  forces  with  the  prince.  "  There  were  an  infinite 
number,"  says  Rochefoucauld,  **  of  those  uncertain  per- 
sons who  offer  themselves  at  the  beginning  of  parties, 
and  betray  or  abandon  them  when  their  fears  or  their  in- 
terests demand."  Condi's  court  was  as  well  filled  with 
persons  of  quality  as  that  of  the  king  himself.  Balls, 
comedies  and  gambling,  the  chase,  and  good  cheer  were 
mingled  with  plots  and  intrigues."  Though  discontented 
with  the  Court,  Cond^  seems  to  have  hesitated  at  the 
prospect  of  a  civil  war.  His  lady-love,  Mme.  de  Chatillon, 
had  been  gained  in  the  interest  of  the  Court,  and  she  ad- 
vised measures  of  reconciliation.  Rochefoucauld  was 
variable  in  his  counsels.  The  very  keenness  of  the  great 
satirist's  mind,  his  ability  to  see  every  side  of  a  problem, 
unfitted  him  for  the  role  of  a  party  leader.  Rochefou- 
cauld was  said  to  spend  all  his  mornings  creating  imbrogl- 
ios, and  all  his  evenings  laboring  for  reconciliations.*  He 
was  becoming  weary  of  the  disappointments  of  rebellion, 
and  willing  to  accept  the  more  substantial  advantages 
that  came  from  favor  at  Court.    But  Mme.  de  Longueville, 

'  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  4209.,  2t()etpas.  Mazarin  k  Tellier.  Mazarin  claimed 
that  Chavigni  promised  his  friendship  when  he  obtained  his  appointment,  but 
such  promises  were  rarely  kept.      *  Rochefoucauld,  271.      '  Retz,  iii.,  118. 


146      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

whom  he  had  trained  for  a  heroine,  was  now  unwilHng  to 
abandon  that  part.  The  duke,  her  husband,  was  weary  of 
rebellions  the  result  of  which  was  a  prison.  He  did  not 
care  to  risk  imprisonment  for  the  rest  of  his  life  in  order  to 
satisfy  the  immoderate  ambitions  of  Cond^.'  He  was  now 
in  his  province  of  Normandy  and  expressed  no  political 
desire,  except  that  his  wife  should  cease  to  be  the  leader 
of  armies  and  the  lady-love  of  wits,  and  should  return  to 
her  lawful  spouse."  No  prospect  could  have  been  so  ap- 
palling to  her.  The  duke  was  old  and  prosaic,  and  after 
her  life  of  excitement  to  rejoin  a  gloomy  and  irritated 
husband,  to  lead  a  life  of  ennui  amid  the  weariness  and 
insipidity  of  provincial  life  was  a  peril  from  which  she 
thought  her  brother  should  rescue  her,  even  if  he  had  to 
embroil  all  France  in  the  endeavor.*  "  I  do  not  love  the 
chase,  nor  to  walk  through  the  woods,  nor  to  play  at 
games,"  she  said;  "I  do  not  love  innocent  pleasures."* 
Her  desire  to  begin  hostilities  was  shared  by  others,  and 
Conde  finally  resolved  on  that  step.  "  They  know  little 
of  parties,"  says  Retz,  who  knew  much  of  them,  "who 
suppose  that  the  chief  of  a  party  is  its  master."  *  "  It  is 
not  from  desire,"  said  the  Prince,  "  that  I  take  my  sword 
from  its  scabbard,  but  when  drawn  it  will  not  easily 
return  there."  '  But  in  truth  Conde  was  full  of  discon- 
tent. He  expected  support  in  the  south  of  France  and 
aid  from  Spain,  and  believed  that  with  his  genius  as  a 
commander  he  could  dictate  terms  to  the  king  of  France. 
The  third  civil  war  in  the  course  of  four  years  was  begun 
almost  without  the  pretence  of  any  motive,  except  that 
Conde  was  irritated  and  his  followers  needed  excitement. 
Having  resolved   on   war,  the  prince  at  once  proceeded 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiii.,  62. 

*  His  daughter,  the  Duchess  of  Nemours,  says  this  desire  was  attributed  to 
the  Duke  of  Longueville  rather  than  felt  by  him,  and  that  her  stepmother 
need  not  have  been  so  greatly  alarmed  by  the  peril  she  imagined. — Nemours, 
645,  646. 

*  "  Le  dit  due  se  rend  tous  les  jours  plus  difficile,  soup9onneux  et  mes- 
fient." — Camet,  vii.,  2. 

*  Lettres  de  Madame,  May  31,  1718.     Dis.  Ven.  cxiii.,  in. 

^  Retz,  iii.,  257.  *  Priolo,  352. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    147 

southward.  He  received  on  his  journey  manifestations  of 
popular  favor  which  encouraged  him  in  the  step  he  had 
taken.  Soon  reaching  his  new  province  of  Guienne,  he 
was  greeted  at  Bordeaux  with  every  mark  of  public  joy. 
He  was  popular  on  account  of  his  own  exploits  and 
his  wife's  gallant  conduct  a  year  before.  He  came  as  the 
successor  of  the  hated  Duke  of  fipernon  among  a  people 
who  were  ready  for  revolt.  The  Parliament  declared  in 
his  favor,  and  asked  the  union  of  the  other  Parliaments 
in  the  kingdom.' 

In  this,  as  in  all  the  rebellions  of  the  period,  those  in 
insurrection  at  once  sought  an  alliance  with  the  enemies 
of  the  state.  Cond6  had  been  negotiating  with  the 
Spanish  for  months,  and  Lenet  was  sent  to  Madrid  to  ob- 
tain a  treaty  with  Spain.'  He  found  a  favorable  reception 
from  a  people  who  hoped  by  fostering  French  discontents 
to  recover  what  they  had  lost  by  French  victories.  Cond6 
might  gain  for  them  as  a  rebel  what  he  had  won  from 
them  as  a  general.  A  treaty  was  signed  betweed  Philip 
IV.  of  Spain,  and  Cond^,  Conti,  Rochefoucauld,  Nemours, 
and  Mme.  de  Longueville,  by  which  it  was  agreed  that 
Spain  should  furnish  large  sums  of  money  and  10,000  men, 
partly  in  the  south  and  partly  in  the  north,  the  latter  to 
act  under  the  command  of  Turenne.  The  Spanish  king 
was  to  be  allowed  to  hold  some  post  in  the  Gulf  of  Lyons 
until  a  final  peace.  No  treaty  should  be  made  by  either 
party  until  just  terms  were  granted  his  Catholic  Majesty, 
and  satisfaction  was  given  the  Prince  of  Cond6  and  his 
associates.' 

Condi's  example  was  followed  by  others  of  his  party. 
The  Count  of  Marchin  was  governor  of  Catalonia  and 
commanded  the  French  army  in  that  province.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  seducing  his  soldiers  from  their  allegiance,  and 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiii.,  197.     Lenet,  527-8. 

•  Le  Tellier  wrote  of  Conde's  intrigues  with  Spain,  in  May  of  this  year, 
when  the  prince  was  an  active  member  of  the  Royal  Council.  Mss.  Bib. 
Nat..  4210.,  379. 

*  This  treaty  is  printed  in  "  Mme.  de  Longueville  pendant  La  Fronde," 
387-400.     It  was  signed  subsequently  by  La  Tremoille,  Prince  of  Tarente. 


148      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

led  them  to  Condi's  assistance,  leaving  Catalonia  defence- 
less. Such  atrocious  treason  in  the  desertion  of  his 
command  in  the  face  of  the  enemy  was  favorably  viewed  by 
Condi's  followers.'  But  the  prince  found  less  encourage- 
ment when  he  sought  the  aid  of  some  of  his  former  allies. 
The  assistance  of  the  Duke  of  Bouillon  and  his  brother, 
the  Marshal  of  Turenne,  was  justly  regarded  as  of  great 
importance.  Both  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  upris- 
ing which  had  Conde's  liberation  for  its  object.  Bouillon 
was  one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  French  nobility,  and 
Turenne's  military  genius  rendered  him  a  still  more  valu- 
able ally."  But  they  were  now  wavering  in  their  support. 
Neither  thought  that  Cond^  when  liberated  had  shown 
any  great  appreciation  of  their  services,  or  obtained  for 
them  any  just  reward.  To  them,  as  to  all  others,  he  had 
been  ungrateful  and  overbearing  in  the  hour  of  prosper- 
ity. "  Among  the  prince's  great  qualities,"  Mazarin  said, 
"he  surely  has  not  the  gift  of  keeping  his  friends."* 
The  cardinal  fully  understood  the  importance  of 
gaining  the  support  of  the  brothers,  and  he  had  in- 
structed the  queen  to  spare  no  exertions  to  that  end.* 
In  the  bidding  for  their  favor  the  Court  could  offer  the 
most  and  it  obtained  their  aid.  Bouillon  was  to  have 
an  enormous  indemnity  for  the  loss  of  Sedan,  and 
Turenne  to  be  commander  of  the  king's  armies.  He 
knew  that  the  object  of  the  revolt  was  only  to  advance 
the  interests  of  a  small  number  of  persons  without  regard 
to  the  public  welfare,  and  he  had  long  been  anxious  to 
leave  the  rebellious  courses  which  he  found  little  to  his 
taste.'  Rochefoucauld  had  obtained  from  Bouillon  a  prom- 
ise of  his  own  and  his  brother's  support.  But  they  failed 
to  respond  and  a  little  later,  when  satisfactory  terms  had 
been  made,  they  declared  themselves  openly  for  the  Court.* 
Cond6  saw  Longueville  in  person  and  extracted  from 

'  Montglat,  255.     Aff.  Etr.  France,  879,  p.  11,  etc. 
'  "  Turenne  chi  era,  si  puo  dir,  il  suo  Achille." — Dis.  Ven.,  cxiii.,  126. 
•Aff.  Etr.,  267,  fo.  408. 

*  "  Conservarsi  I'affetto  di  questi  due  persdne," — Mazarin  4  Oudedei,  Aug> 
Ilth.  *  Mem.  de  Turenne,  433.  *  Rochefoucauld,  292-7,  303, 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARTN'S  RETURN.    1 49 

him  a  promise  of  aid,  but  when  the  duke  found  himself 
safely  in  Normandy  he  left  his  brother-in-law  and  his  wife 
to  work  out  their  own  fate.  The  prince  tried  to  gain  the 
assistance  of  the  Huguenots  by  granting  favors  to  their 
churches,  but  they  said  that  he  sought  only  his  own  great- 
ness, and  was  always  ready  to  sacrifice  his  friends  and  his 
cause.'  He  endeavored  also  to  obtain  aid  from  Cromwell, 
and  he  offered  to  England  free  trade  with  Guienne.' 

Orleans  in  the  meantime  remained  at  Paris  in  his  usual 
fluctuating  course.  He  formed  no  alliance  with  Cond6 ; 
he  did  not  espouse  the  cause  of  the  Court.  Retz  still  gov- 
erned his  conduct  and  sought  to  make  him  the  leader  of  a 
third  party,  which,  standing  between  the  queen  and  Cond^, 
should  control  the  state,  and  itself  be  controlled  by  the 
coadjutor.  Retz  justly  said  that  such  a  part  was  far 
above  Orleans'  ability.  But  to  make  out  of  judges  and 
bourgeois,  wearied  of  tumult,  a  party  which  should  nei- 
ther obey  the  king  nor  act  with  those  in  revolt  against 
him,  was  a  part  beyond  any  one's  capacity.  Both  Or- 
leans and  Bouillon  endeavored  to  act  as  peacemakers  be- 
tween the  hostile  parties.  Liberal  offers  were  made  to 
Cond6  for  himself  and  his  friends,  but  he  was  now  in  no 
mood  to  accept  any  terms.  He  sent  word  to  Bouillon 
that  it  was  no  longer  time  to  listen  to  propositions  which 
would  not  be  carried  out.  If  he  would  declare  in  his  fa- 
vor, as  he  had  promised,  and  Turenne  would  assume  the 
command  of  the  troops  at  Stenai,  he  would  then  be  in 
condition  to"  listen  to  the  offers  of  the  Court  and  make  a 
treaty  that  would  be  sure  and  glorious.* 

The  majority  had  been  proclaimed  and  Cond6  was  in 
open  rebellion.  Anne  and  the  council  decided  therefore 
to  proceed  to  the  seat  of  hostilities.  Mazarin  had  long 
insisted  on  the  king's  leaving  Paris.  Away  from  there 
intrigues  would  diminish  ;  it  would  be  going  from  captivity 
to  liberty.     He  would  be  king  in  fact,  and  not  merely 

'  Retz  to  Charrier,  letter  of  Oct.  26,  165 1. 

•  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  29,     Aff.  Etr.  England,  61.,  34. 

*  Rochefoucauld,  305-306.     Gourville,  502-503. 


150         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

king  in  name.'  No  party  in  Paris  was  in  condition  to 
oppose  such  a  step,  though  the  bitter  Frondeurs  lamented 
afterwards,  that  when  they  allowed  the  king  to  escape  from 
the  city  they  committed  a  fatal  error,  and  left  open  the  way 
for  Mazarin's  return  and  triumph.  There  was  some  uncer- 
tainty as  to  whether  the  Court  should  proceed  north  to  be 
nearer  the  scene  of  hostilities  with  Spain,  or  go  south  ta 
oppose  Conde.  Anne  favored  the  former  course.  It  would 
bring  her  nearer  to  Mazarin  and  make  it  easy  for  her  soon 
to  meet  with  him.  But  Chateauneuf  of  all  things  most 
dreaded  such  a  meeting  and  he  insisted  on  going  south, 
where  Conde's  active  measures  needed  prompt  attention. 
It  was  wisely  decided  that  in  the  south  was  the  most  immi- 
nent danger.  On  the  26th  of  September  Louis  with  his 
mother  and  his  principal  officers  left  Paris.  They  proceeded 
to  Fontainebleau  where  they  remained  until  October  2d, 
and  then  moved  southward  into  Berri.' 

Condi's  success  when  commanding  the  king's  armies 
did  not  attend  him  when  he  had  taken  up  arms  against 
them.  Such  forces  as  he  could  gather  were  for  the 
most  part  ill  disciplined,  and  his  genius  as  a  bold  and 
dashing  general  in  a  pitched  battle  was  little  adapted 
to  the  semi-guerilla  warfare  which  was  now  waged.  Har- 
court  commanded  the  king's  forces  with  his  usual  good 
fortune.  Cond6  endeavored  to  excite  the  central  prov- 
inces to  insurrection  and  to  save  Guienne  from  being  the 
seat  of  war,  but  he  failed  in  both  endeavors.  Bourges 
opened  its  gates  to  the  king.  Cognac  was-  rescued  by 
Harcourt  in  the  sight  of  the  prince.  Cond6  had  hoped  to 
enlist  La  Rochelle  in  his  cause,  and  its  governor,  Daugnon, 
promised  his  aid.  But  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  were 
weary  of  Daugnon's  oppression  and  tyranny,  and  were 
now  faithful  subjects  of  the  king.  Harcourt  marched  there 
and  obtained  possession  of  the  place.  In  order  to  attack 
the  tower  of  St.  Nicholas,  Harcourt  had  a  ship  covered  with 

'  "  La  meilleure  nouvelle  que  je  pourrais  recevoir  sera  celle  que  leurs 
majestes  soient  hors  de  Paris,"  etc., — Mazafin  i  Lionne,  July  4th.    Aff.  Etr. 
France,  267.     Mazarin  k  Millet,  Aug.  8ih.    Aflf.  Etr.  Fr.,  268,  et passim. 
•  Motteville,  424,  425. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    I51 

plates  of  iron  to  protect  it  from  fire.  This  iron-clad  moved 
successfully  up  to  the  tower,  and  as  the  miners  began  to 
sap  the  walls  the  place  surrendered.'  Cond^  refused  to 
accept  the  terms  offered  by  Miradoux,  and  the  town  was 
defended  with  such  vigor  that  it  held  out  against  its  assail- 
ants until  assistance  could  reach  it.  Some  small  skir- 
mishes took  place  between  the  armies,  with  the  advantage 
mostly  with  Harcourt,  but  though  much  superior  in  num- 
bers he  hesitated  to  risk  a  pitched  battle  against  Cond6. 
The  prince  was,  however,  obliged  to  fall  back  to  Agen  in 
Guienne,  and  the  campaign  was  one  of  almost  uninter- 
rupted success  for  the  forces  of  the  king.* 

While  Conde  was  waging  an  unsuccessful  war  against 
the  government,  Paris  continued  in  an  uncertain  position 
between  the  combatants.  A  declaration  against  Cond6 
and  his  followers  was  presented  to  the  Parliament  in 
November,  but  Orleans  had  not  entirely  broken  with 
the  prince  and  he  prevented  its  immediate  registra- 
tion,* Retz  had  at  last  obtained  what  had  been  so  long 
promised.  On  September  21st  he  received  the  nomination 
for  the  cardinalate.  It  was  sent  to  Rome,  and  the  coad- 
jutor at  once  began  active  intrigues  to  obtain  the  promo- 
tion  from  the  Pope,  before  his  nomination  could  be 
revoked  by  the  Court.  By  gratifying  this  long-cherished 
ambition  Mazarin  hoped  that  he  could  now  obtain  Retz's 
active  support.*  He  obtained  the  promise  but  not  the 
performance.  At  the  Court  Retz  professed  hostility  ta 
Cond^,  to  prevent  the  revocation  of  his  nomination.  At 
Paris  he  professed  hostility  to  Mazarin  to  preserve  his 
favor  with  the  people,  and  in  his  heart  he  was  resolved  to 
do  nothing  to  assist  the  return  of  the  man,  who  distrusted 
him  and  whom  he  despised.  If  Mazarin  was  again  in 
power  his  own  prospect  of  becoming  minister  would  fade 
away. 

While  Paris  and  its  leaders  endeavored  to  preserve  a 

'  La  Borde,  "  De  Rebus  Gallicis,"  658. 
'Rochefoucauld,  308-340.     Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,   14,  et  pas. 
•Journal  du  Temps,  115-137.     Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  47-51. 
*  Lettres  de  Mazarin  ila  Reine,  Sept.  I2th,  «t  pas. 


152       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

position  of  neutrality,  Mazarin  continued  to  prepare  for 
his  return  to  France.  He  had  already  been  absent  much 
longer  than  he  had  expected  when  he  fled  from  the  Palais 
Royal  in  February.  His  desire  for  a  speedy  return  had 
been  strong.  A  long  absence  would  allow  others  to 
fill  his  place.  Firm  as  he  felt  the  queen's  affection  to 
be,  time  and  absence  might  shake  it,  and  he  was  alarmed 
at  occasional  reports  that  she  consoled  herself  for  his 
loss.  Mme.  de  Chevreuse  said  that  the  queen's  attachment 
for  the  cardinal  could  not  survive  eighteen  months  of  ab- 
sence.' He  had  hoped  to  secure  his  return  through 
Conde's  influence,  and  th^t  hope  had  failed.  Lionne  and 
Servien  had  not  procured  it,  and  Mazarin  complained  had 
not  really  desired  it.  After  the  Palatine,  Mme.  de  Chev- 
reuse, and  the  coadjutor  had  allied  themselves  with  the 
queen  in  the  early  summer,  he  believed  that  he  could  soon 
return  to  Paris,  but  his  friends  advised  him  that  the  time 
had  not  yet  come."  His  letters  were  full  of  querulous 
complaints  that  he  was  neglected  and  left  in  needy  and 
hopeless  exile.' 

When  Louis  reached  his  majority,  the  cardinal  felt  sure 
that  the  hands  of  the  government  would  be  so  strength- 
ened that  its  favorite  minister  could  be  recalled,  but  as  he 
read  the  fierce  abuse  with  which  he  was  attacked  in  the 
declaration,  granted  in  September  to  soothe  the  people  and 
the  Parliament,  he  was  filled  with  dismay.  He  wrote  the 
queen  on  September  26th  :  "  I  have  taken  my  pen  ten 
times  to  write  you,  and  have  not  been  able.  After 
the  mortal  blow  which  I  have  just  received,  I  do  not  know 
if  what  I  can  say  will  have  rhyme  or  reason.  The  king 
and  queen  have  declared  me  a  traitor,  a  public  robber, 
inefficient,  and  the  enemy  of  the  repose  of  Christianity, 
after  I   have  served  them  with  so  great  fidelity  and  so 

'  Lettres  de  Mazarin  4  la  Reine,  340. 

'  He  wrote  Fouquet  in  June,  that  the  reports  of  his  return  excited  the 
activity  of  his  enemies  and  he  saw  little  hope  for  his  affairs. — Mss.  Bib.  Nat. , 
23,202.,  26. 

'  "  En  un  chemin  d'aller  k  grands  pas  k  la  mendicity,"  he  says  in  one 
letter,  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  23,202.,  16. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZAKIN'S  RETURN.    1 53 

r  .cat  success.  *  *  -»  j^g  most  zealous  of  ministers 
passes  now  for  an  infamous  wretch.  *  *  *  He  has 
been  declared  the  most  criminal  and  abominable  of 
men,  *  *  *  It  is  no  longer  a  question  of  wealth  or 
repose  or  of  whatever  else.  I  demand  the  honor  which 
has  been  taken  from  me."  "  I  must  be  insensible,"  he 
wrote  to  Bartet,  "  if  1  were  not  troubled  when  my  master 
has  declared  me  in  so  ignominious  terms  a  traitor,  the 
enemy  of  France  and  of  the  human  race.  Siron  will  tell 
you  the  condition  I  am  in,  and  the  just  reasons  which  I 
have  for  saying  that  I  am  the  most  unhappy  of  men."  ' 
But  he  was  soon  consoled  by  the  assurance  that  it  was  not 
the  queen's  heart  that  had  spoken  in  the  declaration. 

It  was  suggested  that  in  view  of  the  hatred  felt  against 
Mazarin,  it  might  be  well  to  have  him  attend  to  the  inter- 
ests of  France  at  Rome  ;  but  he  declined  to  return  to  his 
birthplace  and  beg  alms  from  the  Pope."  He  had  long 
advised  the  king's  departure  from  Paris,  and  when  once 
the  Court  was  out  of  that  city,  he  saw  the  way  open  for  his 
return.  For  the  Palatine  and  the  coadjutor  he  now  pro- 
fessed the  warmest  friendship,  and  he  endeavored  to  ob- 
tain from  Retz  that  open  aid  which  the  nomination  for  the 
cardinalate  gave  him  the  right  to  expect.'  He  surpassed 
€ven  the  usual  exuberance  of  his  professions  of  amity  in 
his  utterances  about  the  coadjutor.  "  I  assure  you,"  he 
wrote  the  Princess  Palatine,  "  that  Mazarin  will  follow 
blindly  the  counsels  of  the  coadjutor  and  Mme.  de  Chev- 
reuse."  *  "  I  have  been  charmed,"  he  writes  another,  "  at 
all  you  send  me  from  the  coadjutor,  and  I  learn  with  great 
pleasure  the  assurance  of  his  friendship.  I  am  sure  he 
will  never  have  reason  to  doubt  mine.  *  *  *  j  pray 
you  give  him  my  congratulations  in  advance  on  his  pro- 
motion, and  tell  him  that  they  come  from  the  heart,  and 
that  I  am  persuaded  nothing  could  be  more  advantageous 

'  Leltres  de  Mazarin  4  la  Reine,  291-3,  301. 

*  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  23,202.  14-16.  letter  of  Sept.  i8th,  *' i  demander  I'au- 
mosne  entre  les  mains  du  Pape." 

*  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  23,202.  pieces  6.  16,  etc. 

*  Letter  of  Oct.  3,   165 1. 


154       f RANGE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

for  the  king,  and  for  my  own  interests,  than  to  see  him  in 
possesssion  of  that  dignity."  *.  "  This  friendship,"  he 
writes  again  to  the  Palatine,  "  must  be  subject  to  no 
change.  I  see  that  the  coadjutor  and  Mazarin  have  the 
same  thoughts,  condemn  the  same  things,  apprehend  the 
same  evils.  *  ^^  *  I  beseech  you  to  tell  Retz  that  I 
will  serve  him  sincerely,  and  that  he  will  never  have  occa- 
sion to  complain  of  me."  '  '*  My  letters,"  he  says  again, 
"will  have  confirmed  the  coadjutor  in  the  belief  that  I 
desire  nothing  more  eagerly  than  to  form  an  indissoluble 
friendship  with  him."  * 

A  place  in  the  ministry,  the  marriage  of  a  niece  of 
Mazarin  to  one  of  Retz's  nephews,  the  assurance  of  the 
cardinalate,  a  practical  duumvirate  in  which  he  and  Maz- 
arin should  unite  in  the  government  of  France,  were  sug- 
gested as  baits  to  draw  the  coadjutor  to  an  open  and 
active  support.  But  Retz  was  not  to  be  cajoled  by 
promises.  He  was  himself  full  of  fair  professions,  and 
Mazarin  seems,  during  part  of  the  autumn,  to  have  be- 
lieved, or  at  least  hoped,  that  Retz  was  sincere  in  his 
alliance,  and  that  he  would  declare  openly  for  his  return 
from  exile.  But  the  coadjutor  could  not  be  led  to  any 
open  declaration.  Mazarin  sought  to  have  a  meeting 
with  him,  where  they  could  agree  upon  the  policy  to  be 
pursued.  Retz  professed  himself  ready  for  such  a  meet- 
ing, but  objections  were  raised  to  every  place  that  was 
proposed  for  it,  and  it  never  took  place.  While  the  co- 
adjutor declared  his  friendship  for  Mazarin,  he  employed 
himself  in  working  secretly  against  him,  to  prevent  his 
again  obtaining  the  power  he  had  lost.  In  one  thing  he 
was  sincere,  and  that  was  his  hostility  to  Cond^,  and  to  the 
fear  that  he  might  ally  himself  with  the  prince  and  enlist 
Orleans  and  Paris  in  his  support,  he  owed  it  that  the  Court 
did  not  revoke  his  nomination.  "  I  have  said  a  hundred 
times,"  Retz  told  a  representative  of  the  queen,  "  that  I 
will  make  no  terms  with  the  prince  if  my  nomination  is 

'  Aff.  Etr.,  France,  t.  268,  letter  of  Nov.   13th. 
*  Let.  of  Nov.  19th.  •  Let.  of  Dec.  5th. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND   MAZAHIN'S  HE  TURN.    I  5  5; 

not  revoked,  and  that  1  will  make  terms  and  don  the  Isabel 
scarf  to-morrow  if  they  even  threaten  its  revocation." 

Cond^  manifested  his  hostility  by  endeavors  to  prevent 
Retz's  promotion  as  cardinal  and  even  by  attempting  ta 
kidnap  him.  In  October,  Gourville,  a  bold  and  unscrupu- 
lous adventurer,  who  had,  by  vigor  and  daring,  raised  him- 
self from  obscurity  to  wealth  and  esteem,  together  with  a 
party  of  reckless  followers,  acting  under  Condi's  com- 
mand, resolved  to  seize  the  coadjutor,  and  carry  him  as  a 
captive  to  Damvilliers.  The  prince  would  thus  be  freed 
from  his  restless  opposition,  and  if  in  the  scuffle  that 
might  arise  the  coadjutor  were  killed,  that  would  be  equally 
satisfactory.  They  came  up  from  Guienne,  and  Gourville 
relates  with  much  complacency  that,  funds  being  low,  he 
captured  a  collector  of  taxes,  took  from  him  5,000  livres 
and  some  horses,  and  giving  him  a  receipt  for  the  funds 
as  taken  for  the  service  of  the  prince,  proceeded  on  his 
way.  Reaching  Paris,  they  decided  that  Retz's  nocturnal 
visits  furnished  the  best  opportunity  for  seizing  him  and 
conveying  him  out  of  the  city.  They  lay  in  wait  for  him 
one  night  when  he  should  come  out  from  the  Hotel 
Chevreuse  very  late,  as  was  his  custom,  but  he  chanced  to 
go  home  by  an  unaccustomed  way.  The  plot  was  discov- 
ered and  confessed  by  some  of  those  engaged  in  it,  and 
the  coadjutor  for  a  while  escaped  the  prison  to  which  his 
tortuous  policy  was  slowly  leading  him.' 

Mazarin  now  resolved  to  attempt  the  return,  which 
had  been  so  often  forbidden  and  so  long  apprehended. 
He  marched  at  the  head  of  an  army  to  join  the  Court  and 
assume  again  the  position  from  which  he  had  been  driven, 
and  he  abandoned  at  last  the  timid  policy  to  which  he 
was  addicted.  He  left  Briihl,  hired  an  army  of  German 
mercenaries,  and  with  this  command  he  slowly  moved 
nearer  the  French  boundary."  The  regent  was  eager 
for  his  return,  but  she  was  surrounded  by  those  who  ad- 
vised against  it.     Chateauncuf  had  promised  Mazarin  his 

'  Loret,  Muse.  Mis.,  180.  Gourville,  498-500.  Letter  of  Retz  to  Char- 
rier,  Nov.  27,  1651.     '  Aff.  Etr.  France,  268,  Mazarin  to  Fabert,  Oct.  22d. 


156      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

aid,  but  he  had  no  thought  of  giving  it.'  This,  he  said,  was 
not  the  time  for  his  return.  The  king's  armies  had  been 
victorious  over  Condc.  Soon  all  revolt  would  be  sub- 
dued ;  but  at  this  time  for  Mazarin  to  reappear  would 
drive  Paris  and  half  of  France  to  Condi's  assistance. 
Some  of  Mazarin's  friends,  however,  were  of  the  opinion 
that  he  should  come  at  once,  and  the  queen  preferred 
their  advice.  "  The  poor  man,"  she  said  often,  "  when 
shall  we  see  him  again?""  On  November  17th,  Mazarin 
received  instructions  from  the  king  to  return  to  France 
and  again  rejoin  the  Court.*  He  did  not,  however,  at 
once  obey  the  summons.  He  was  resolved  that  when  he 
returned  it  should  be  with  a  force  that  should  ensure  his 
entry,  and  with  which  he  could  claim  to  be  marching  to 
strengthen  the  armies  of  the  king.  Some  time  was  em- 
ployed in  raising  troops  and  in  negotiations  with  the 
Duke  of  Lorraine  and  with  Cromwell.  Though  Mazarin 
had  lamented  the  poverty  to  which  he  was  reduced,  he 
was  still  able,  from  his  resources,  to  raise  an  army  of  5,000 
men,  who  wore  the  green  scarf,  the  colors  of  the  cardinal. 
At  Dinant  he  issued  a  manifesto  addressed  to  the  king 
and  explaining  his  return  to  France.  He  would  have 
•continued  to  live  in  exile,  it  said,  if  his  misfortune  would 
have  contributed  to  the  welfare  of  France.  But  instead 
of  that  affairs  had  grown  worse,  and  everywhere  were  con- 
fusion and  disorder.  With  the  authorization  of  their 
majesties,  he  had  resolved  to  employ  his  feeble  resources 
for  the  defence  of  their  cause — having  for  his  only  end  to 
expose  his  life  for  the  good  of  France,  for  his  only  wish 
the  repose  and  glory  of  that  kingdom.^ 

On  December  24,  1651,  he  entered  France.  He  was 
received  by  the  governors  and  officers  of  the  places  where 
he  went  with  the  honors  due  the  minister  of  the  king, 
and  the  firing  of  artillery  and  military  salutes  greeted  the 
returning  exile.     The  Marshal  of  Hocquincourt,  with  3,300 

'  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  4212,  Le  Tellier  i  Mazarin,  260. 
'  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.  ,4230,  Letter  of  Oct.  24,  1651. 

*  Let.  de  Mazarin  k  la  Reine,  372-7,  An  order  to  lead  lus  army  into 
Prance  was  given  Dec.  I3lh.  *  Aff.  Etr.  France,  vol.  268.,  416. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZAHIN'S  RETURN.    1 57 

of  the  royal  forces,  accompanied  him  in  his  march  into  the 
kingdom.'  His  progress  was  deHberate,  but  uninterrupted. 
He  met  with  no  more  serious  opposition  than  two  mes- 
sengers from  the  ParHament,  who  were  sent  to  induce  the 
cities  and  provinces  to  take  up  arms  against  his  return. 
Hocquincourt  captured  one  of  the  messengers,  and  the 
other  took  to  his  heels."  The  cardinal  proceeded  through 
Champagne,  crossed  the  Seine,  and  on  January  16,  crossed 
the  Loire  and  entered  Berri.*  But  though  his  return  ex- 
cited little  feeling  among  the  provinces  through  which  he 
passed,  it  aroused  fierce  commotion  in  the  Parliament  and 
among  the  remnants  of  the  old  Fronde.  In  Paris  there 
was  indeed  little  excitement  among  the  bulk  of  the  popu- 
lation. The  better  and  middle  classes  were  for  the  most 
part  beginning  to  weary  of  broils,  and  to  think  the  presence 
of  Mazarin  no  more  odious  than  the  turbulence  and  self- 
ish ambition  of  those  who  stirred  up  civil  war  from  op- 
position to  his  presence.  Prosperous  trade  and  the  pipe 
of  peace  under  Mazarin,  might  be  as  well  as  serving  in 
the  patrol  and  closing  their  shops  under  Orleans  or  Cond^. 
But  the  Parliamentary  leaders  were  still  eager  in  the  cause 
which  was  fast  losing  its  popular  support. 

The  declaration  against  Cond^  had  been  finally  regis- 
tered early  in  December  by  a  vote  of  124  to  40.  To  the 
last  Orleans  opposed  this,  but  though  he  succeeded  in 
delaying  it,  he  could  not  prevent  it.*  Condi's  followers 
endeavored  to  excite  a  riot  in  Paris.  The  mob  burst  into 
Mole's  room,  howling  for  peace,  and  accusing  the  present 
ministry,  but  he  calmed  them  with  his  usual  intrepidity, 
and  the  officers  of  the  city  took  measures  to  prevent  such 
disturbances.*  Soon,  however,  Orleans  was  able  to  alarm 
the  Parliament   by  sure   intelligence   that    Mazarin   was 

'  Mss.  Bib.  Nal.,  4209..  304. 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  88,  96      "  Salvatosi  Taltro  con  la  fugga." 

*  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  23,202,  p.  269.  Mazarin  to  Abbe  Fouquet,  Jan.  18,  1652, 
wrongly  dated  1653.  "  Les  habitants  ont  tesmoign^  une  veritable  joye  de 
mon  retour. " 

*  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  57,  58.  The  ambassador  justly  described  the  vote  as 
124  for  the  king  and  40  for  Conde.     p.  58.     Talon,  447-452. 

*  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  64,  Dec.  12th. 


158      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

attempting  to  return.  The  warnings  of  such  a  danger  had 
been  frequent,  and  when  it  was  known  that  the  cardinal 
was  leading  an  army  through  France,  it  was  no  longer 
possible  to  disregard  them.  The  most  violent  and  fac- 
tious of  the  popular  tribunes  obtained  the  ear  of  the 
Parliament,  and  on  December  29th  a  decree  was  passed, 
■which  would  not  have  been  unworthy  of  the  revolutionary 
tribunal.  By  it  a  reward  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
livres  was  offered  to  whoever  should  bring  Mazarin  before 
justice,  dead  or  alive.  Should  the  person  who  might  gain 
this  reward  have  been  guilty  of  any  crime,  pardon  for  it 
was  to  be  granted.*  The  assassin  who  added  to  his  other 
crimes  the  murder  of  a  cardinal,  would  receive  pardon  for 
the  past,  and  wealth  for  the  future.  This  reward,  which, 
as  the  advocate-general  justly  said,  would  not  have  been 
offered  for  the  capture  of  bandits  or  pirates,  was  to  be  paid 
by  the  sale  of  the  great  library  which  Mazarin  had  slowly 
and  laboriously  collected  for  the  use  of  the  scholars  of  his 
own  day  and  of  all  time.  It  was  resolved  to  proceed  at 
once  with  the  sale  of  these  books."  To  gather  them  had 
been  for  Mazarin  a  labor  of  love,  and  he  hoped  to  leave 
them  as  a  noble  benefaction  to  Paris,  the  city  of  his 
adoption.  They  had  been  collected  from  every  quarter 
and  at  great  cost.  Even  in  his  instructions  to  the  gen- 
erals, Mazarin  often  added  to  plans  for  a  campaign,  or  for 
the  capture  of  a  city,  the  request  that  any  rare  or  valuable 
book  found  might  be  saved  and  sent  to  his  library.' 
Every  endeavor  was  made  to  purchase  the  library  as  a 
whole,  that  its  contents  might  not  be  scattered,  never 
again  to  be  collected.  But  the  Parliament  proceeded 
with  an  ignorance  and  malice  which  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  communists  rather  than  from  judges.  Dur- 
ing all  the  month  of  January,  the  destruction  of  the  great 
library  proceeded  by  the  sale  of  the  books  in  small  lots.* 

'  Journal  du  Parlement,  1651,  158,  159. 

'  Journal  du  Parlement,  1651,  161.  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  81.  Talon,  45S- 
460.  '  See  his  letters /rtj-jiw. 

*  Colbert  says  that  the  members  of  the  Parliament  who  had  charge  of-  the 
sale,  stole  many  of  the  valuable  books.     Lettres  de  Colbert,  i.,  215. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION'  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    1 59 

"  One  could  not  re-collect  them,"  lamented  Mazarin,  "  in 
fifty  years  with  a  million  of  money.  There  were  fifty-four 
thousand  volumes.  I  had  sent  all  over  the  world  to 
gather  the  most  curious.  I  had  spent  a  hundred  thousand 
crowns  for  a  building  proper  to  put  them  in.  All  this  to 
make  a  present  of  them  to  Paris,  and  the  Parliament  has 
sold  them  at  a  ruinous  price  to  use  the  money  to  murder 
me.'" 

This  piece  of  brutal  vandalism  was  not  accompanied  by 
any  acts  which  might  really  have  hindered  Mazarin's  re- 
turn. The  Parliament  fired  declarations  at  him,  but  it 
would  do  nothing  towards  firing  cannon.  A  counsellor 
said  that  the  soldiers  under  Mazarin's  command  would 
make  merry  over  the  deliberations  of  the  Parliament, 
unless  they  were  conveyed  to  them  by  bailiffs  with  good 
muskets  and  good  pikes,  but  the  Parliament  decided  that 
the  enlistment  of  men  of  war  belonged  only  to  the  king.' 
The  judges  contented  themselves  with  sending  a  deputa- 
tion to  Louis,  to  inform  him  of  the  evils  that  would  follow 
Mazarin's  return,  and  to  ask  that  the  cardinal  be  driven 
from  the  kingdom,  in  conformity  with  numerous  royal 
declarations.  The  deputation  was  informed  that  the 
Parliament  doubtless  was  not  aware  that  Mazarin  had 
raised  no  troops  save  by  the  express  order  of  the  king, 
and  that  by  his  command  he  had  entered  France.  While 
his  majesty,  therefore,  would  not  censure  what  had  been 
done,  he  df)ubted  not  that  when  the  Parliament  re- 
ceived this  information  and  knew  that  the  cardinal  de- 
manded only  an  opportunity  to  justify  himself,  it  would 
set  an  example  of  obedience  to  the  people  of  the  king- 
dom.' The  judges  were  put  in  no  better  humor  by  re- 
ceiving this  response.  They  endeavored  again  to  excite 
opposition  to  Mazarin's  entrj'  into  the  kingdom,  they  in- 
vited the  cooperation  of  the  other  Parliaments,  and  they 

'  Mazarin  k  Fouquet,  Jan.  11,  1652,  Cipher  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  23,202.  lb. 
4209.,  327,  Mazarin  k  Le  Tellier. 

*  Retz,  iii  ,  292,  293.     Journal  du  Parlement,  1652,  171,  et  seq. 

*  Talon,  460-463.  Journal  du  Parlement,  called  "  Histoire  du  temps 
present,"  173-177. 


l6o       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

declared  the  Marshal  of  Hocquincourt  and  all  his  posterity 
responsible  if  he  refused  to  release  the  messenger  of  the 
Parliament  of  Paris  whom  he  held  a  prisoner.'  Having 
7,000  soldiers  with  him,  Hocquincourt  was  little  alarmed 
for  himself,  and  left  his  posterity  to  its  fate.  Nothing 
delayed  the  steady  progress  of  the  cardinal's  army  tow- 
ards Poitiers." 

As  the  time  for  their  reunion  drew  near,  his  letters  to 
the  queen  show  plainly  enough  the  nature  of  their  rela- 
tions. "  My  God,"  he  wrote  in  December,  "  when  is  it 
that  the  queen  and  Mazarin  shall  be  happy  !  "  "  All  shall 
perish,"  he  wrote  on  the  26th,  "  or  I  will  see  you  in  fifteen 
days.  In  saying  this,  I  am  beside  myself.  Think,  I  pray 
you,  what  will  happen  when  Mazarin  shall  see  the  queen." 
"When  will  it  be,"  he  wrote  again  in  January,  "that  one 
shall  have  repose,  and  that  Mazarin  shall  enjoy  it  near  the 
queen  !  I  will  not  begin  to  speak  of  that,  for  I  should  not 
soon  finish.  Believe  only  that  I  will  be  yours  till  the  last 
sigh."  '  Anne  was  no  less  desirous  for  his  return.  Such 
was  her  eagerness,  that  the  courtiers  said  the  cardinal 
had  either  bewitched  her  or  married  her.  "  The  cardinal 
is  good  and  wise,"  she  replied;  "he  has  affection  for  the 
state,  for  the  king,  and  for  me."  * 

On  January  29,  1652,  Mazarin  reached  Poitiers  where 
the  Court  then  was.  Louis  with  his  brother  went  out 
two  leagues  to  meet  him,  and  the  cardinal  was  driven 
into  the  city  in  the  carriage  of  the  king.  It  was  said  the 
queen  stood  for  an  hour  at  the  window  watching  for  him 
to  appear.*     The  merchants  and  citizens  of  Poitiers  con- 

'  Talon,  462.     Retz  to  Charrier,  Letter  of  January  19th. 

*  "Continua  il  Cardinal  Mazarin  la  sua  marchia  verso  la  corte  con  la  fe- 
licita  piu  desiderabile  e  riceve  in  tutti  i  luochi  gli  honori  piu  conspicui." — De- 
spatch of  Jan.  16,  1652. 

*  Lettres  de  Mazarin  ^  la  Reine  450,  467,  480.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say 
that  these  letters  are  in  cipher,  but  I  have  translated  the  symbols  used  to 
designate  Mazarin  and  the  queen. 

^Letter  of  Le  Tellier  of  Dec.  28th,  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  6887. 

*  Mem.  de  Joly.  Talon  says  she  received  him  with  indifference,  463. 
Neither  were  eye-witnesses  of  the  reception,  and  the  gossip  from  the  Court 
probably  gave  different  reports. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZAHIN'S  RETURN.    l6l 

gratulated  him  and  expressed  their  pleasure  at  his  return.' 
He  did  not  immediately  assume  his  position  in  the  royal 
council,  but  he  at  once  became  the  real  head  of  the  gov- 
ernment. The  members  of  the  council  were  willing  to  be 
the  instruments  of  his  views.  Le  Tellier  had  been  re- 
warded for  his  zeal  by  recall  to  oflfice  in  December,  but 
Chateauneuf's  love  for  place  could  not  reconcile  him  to 
the  bitterness  of  holding  it  under  Mazarin.  He  had 
sought  to  prevent  or  to  delay  his  return,  but  that  return 
was  now  accomplished.  Full  of  years,  and  of  disap- 
pointed ambitions,  Chateauneuf  retired  to  Tours  and 
promised  that  he  would  not  leave  there  without  permis- 
sion." 

A  few  days  later  than  this,  on  the  19th  of  February, 
Retz  received  the  promotion  for  which  he  had  so  long 
hoped  and  labored.  His  intrigues  at  the  Court  of  Rome 
are  a  curious  chapter  in  the  religious  history  of  the  time.* 
Immediately  on  receiving  the  royal  nomination,  Retz  had 
dispatched  the  Abb6  Charrier  as  his  confidential  agent  to 
secure  his  promotion  from  the  Pope  at  the  earliest  possi- 
ble moment.  The  abbe,  by  his  unscrupulous  zeal  in  in- 
trigue, had  received  the  appellation,  not  altogether  appro- 
priate to  his  religious  calling,  of  "  Charrier  the  devil."" 
There  was  at  Rome  a  field  well  suited  for  the  exercise 
of  the  talents  which  he  possessed. 

The  Pope,  Innocent  X.,  had  long  been  under  the  control 
of  his  sister-in-law,  Olympia  Maldalchini.  Whether  her 
ability,  which  was  great,  or  her  personal  charms,  which, 
were  not  small,  had  gained  her  this  power,  she  possessed 
and  exercised  it  without  stint.  She  watched  over  the 
pontiff  in  his  illness ;  concealed  behind  the  curtain,  she 
listened  to  his  audiences  with  foreign  ministers  ;  ambassa- 

'  Dis,  Ven.,  cxiv.,  112. 

•  Mss.  Bibl.  Nat.,  23,202.,  2g,  Mazarin  k  Fouquet.  "I  would  gladly 
have  lived  in  friendship  with  him,"  Mazarin  says,  " bnt  he  was  controlled 
by  advices  from  Paris." 

*  For  the  account  of  Retz's  intrigues  in  reference  to  the  affair  of  the  car- 
dinalate,  I  am  indebted  to  the  curious  letters  of  Retz  which  M.  Chantelauze 
has  discovered. 


l62        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

dors  called  on  her  as  the  representative  of  the  papal  power ; 
her  portrait  adorned  the  palaces  of  cardinals,  and  her 
treasury  was  filled  with  the  bribes  of  those  who  sought 
ecclesiastical  preferment.  "  Olympia  primus,  Pontifex 
maximus,"  ran  the  satirical  legend.  A  medal  showed  her 
on  the  one  side  with  the  tiara  and  the  keys  of  St.  Peter, 
and  Innocent  on  the  other  with  the  distaff  and  the  spindle. 
"  Donna  Olympia,"  wrote  the  Venetian  ambasssador, 
"sells,  taxes,  hires,  receives  presents  for  all  the  acts  of 
government,  for  favors  and  for  justice.  Pretty  in  her 
person,  agreeable  in  her  conversation,  indifferent  to  all 
the  princes,  she  is  for  him  who  gives  the  most."  Her 
avarice  was  beyond  all  bounds.  She  was  said  to  have 
established  a  tarifT  for  ecclesiastical  oflfices,  to  have  de- 
demanded  almost  a  third  of  their  revenues,  and  to  have 
insisted  on  payment  in  advance.  From  all  this  corruption 
and  bribery  she  was  thought  to  have  accumulated  a  for- 
tune of  25,000,000  livres.'  The  great  palace  Pamfili  built 
for  Innocent  X.,  and  the  palace  Doria  Pamfili  still  stand, 
gorgeous  results  of  this  ill-gained  wealth.  In  the  Doria 
palace  is  a  portrait  of  Olympia,  showing  her  eager,  stern, 
and  determined.  There  also  is  the  portrait  of  Innocent  X., 
with  his  soft,  expressionless  face.  "  On  a  red  chair,  before 
a  red  tapestry,  under  a  red  hat,  in  a  red  cloak,  a  red  figure 
— the  figure  of  a  worn-out  pedant." ' 

With  such  a  person  as  Olympia  the  coadjutor  had  not 
failed  to  be  on  friendly  terms.  "You  will  readily  believe," 
says  Retz,  in  his  memoirs,  "  that  it  would  not  have  been 
easy  to  induce  me  to  give  money  for  a  cardinal's  hat."  We 
can  judge  of  the  truthfulness  of  this  claim  from  what  we 
find  in  his  private  letters  to  his  agent.  He  raised  and 
borrowed  from  his  friends  450,000  livres — as  much  as 
half  a  million  dollars  now — and  this  vast  sum,  either  in 
money  or  in  the  shape  of  precious  stones  and  other  costly 
presents,  he  put  at  Charrier's  disposal.  He  writes :  '*  I 
have   150,000  crowns  at   my  disposition,  which,  in   my 

'  For  these  details  see  Ranke,  "  History  of  the  Popes,"  and  "  Vita  di 
Alessandro  VII.,"  by  Fallabicino.  *  Taine's  Italy,  265. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARINES  RETURN.    1 63 

judgment  should  not  be  spared  if  it  were  to  gain  only  a 
moment."  '  "  Be  careful  not  to  give  your  money  injudi- 
ciously and  unless  you  are  sure  of  what  is  promised ;  but 
also  spare  nothing  to  succeed  and  find  no  fault  with 
what  is  demanded.'"  "Above  all,  spare  nothing  to 
succeed,  and  by  giving,  giving,  for  you  know  the  rascals 
of  the  country."  '  "  I  send  you  some  embroidered  EngHsh 
gloves,"  writes  the  archbishop  to  the  abb6  on  the  seventh 
of  November,  "  to  give  to  whom  you  wish,  even  to  some 
of  your  own  mistresses.  Though  you  draw  bills  of  ex- 
change for  50,000  crowns  they  shall  be  promptly  paid, 
therefore  spare  nothing,  though  it  should  advance  the  mat- 
ter only  by  quarter  of  an  hour."  Intrigues  and  plottings 
made  the  coadjutor  a  hard-working  priest.  "  It  is  five  in 
the  morning,"  he  writes  in  one  of  his  letters,  "  and  I  have 
worked  since  six  last  night,  so  excuse  mistakes  in  the 
cipher.  I  pray  God  that  the  Pope  will  give  a  plenary  in- 
dulgence to  your  rheumatic  shoulder."  * 

Unfortunately  for  Retz,  at  the  time  of  his  nomination 
Olympia  was  under  a  temporary  cloud.  But  the  Princess 
of  Rossano  was  then  believed  to  be  in  high  favor  with 
Innocent,  and  the  money  at  Charrier's  command  made  it 
easy  to  secure  her  assistance.  The  secretary  of  state, 
however,  was  now  Fabio  Chigi,  who  had  been  the  nuncio 
at  Cologne,  and  afterwards  became  Pope  Alexander  VII. 
He  was  a  man  of  a  different  stamp  from  the  Barberini 
and  the  Pamfili,  strict  in  his  religious  belief,  inaccessible 
to  bribery,  stern  against  the  abuses  that  had  grown  up 
about  the  papacy,  and  the  infamous  influences  of  such 
women  as  Olympia.  Nothing  gave  Retz  more  embarrass- 
ment than  dealing  with  an  adviser  of  the  Pope  who  ob- 
jected to  heresy,  and  was  insensible  to  bribery.  He  was 
embarrassed  between  the  desire  of  gaining  Chigi's  favor, 
and  the  fear  of  offending  him  by  an  endeavor  to  purchase 

'  Letter  to  Charrier  of  October  1st.  These  letters  to  Charrier,  and  the 
other  letters  cited  in  reference  to  these  intrigues  of  Retz,  are  published  in 
the  second  volume  of  the  interesting  work  of  M.  Chantelauze,  "  Retz  et 
1' Affaire  du  Chapeau."  •  Letter  of  October  5th. 

*  Letter  of  October  12th.  *  Letter  of  Nov.  25th. 


164      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MA /.A  R  IN. 

it.  All  that  Chigi  was  willing  to  accept  was  a  ring,  which 
could  not  with  good  manners  be  declined.  Such  virtue 
seemed  problematical  to  the  coadjutor.  "  Perhaps,  after 
all,"  he  wrote  Charrier  late  in  November,  "  what  M.  Chigi 
is  seeking  in  all  these  difficulties  is  money  as  well  as  rings. 
Keep  watch  of  that  adroitly." 

The  nomination  of  Retz  was  favorably  received  by  In- 
nocent X.  Retz  had  long  been  assured  by  those  who 
stood  near  the  Pope,  that  if  he  could  obtain  the  royal 
nomination  his  promotion  would  easily  follow.  Innocent 
had  never  relaxed  his  hostility  to  Mazarin,  and  as  the 
coadjutor  had  made  himself  hateful  to  the  minister,  he 
had  become  dear  to  the  pontiff.  When  the  nomination 
was  officially  announced  to  Innocent,  he  replied  with  a 
smiling  face  that  the  coadjutor  was  a  good  Frenchman 
and  a  good  ecclesiastic.  He  felt  great  satisfaction 
that  the  king  had  recognized  his  parts  and  his  fidelity.' 
The  French  ambassador  at  first  solicited  the  Pope  in  good 
faith  to  accord  the  promotion,  but  soon  his  zeal  in  this 
behalf  abated.  Though  the  nomination  of  Retz  was  not 
revoked  by  the  French  Court,  Brienne's  letters  presently 
suggested  to  the  ambassador  that  he  should  nominally 
hasten  the  promotion  and  really  delay  it,  that  the  Court 
might  obtain  from  Retz  a  more  active  and  open  support. 
The  fear  that  he  would  ally  himself  with  Condd,  kept  for 
him  the  nomination,  and  during  all  these  months  of  in- 
trigue Retz  believed,  and  believed  justly,  that  the  Court 
would  not  dare  to  revoke  it."  But  when  the  promotion 
was  once  accorded  all  hold  on  Retz  was  gone.  There 
remained  his  promises  of  gratitude  which  he  probably 
would  not  keep,  and  his  ambition  for  the  ministry  which 
the  queen  did  not  intend  to  gratify.  Only  by  forcing 
him  to  an  open  declaration  for  Mazarin  and  the  Court, 
could  the  coadjutor  be  put  in  a  position  where  possibly 
he  might  help  and  certainly  he  could  not  harm.  The 
Bailly  of  Valengay  was  the  French  ambassador  at  Rome, 

'  Letter  of  the  Bailly  of  Valen9ay  to  Brienne,  of  October  9,  165 1. 
'  Letter  of  Re;z,  of  Feb.  9,  1652. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION'  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    165 

and  as  he  himself  cherished  hopes  of  being  made  a  car- 
dinal, he  was  willing  enough  to  do  what  he  could  to 
delay  Retz's  elevation.  He  was  not  however  in  a  position 
where  he  could  accomplish  much.  A  French  consul  at 
Civita  Vecchia  had  been  treated  in  an  arbitrary  and  un- 
warranted manner  by  the  officers  of  the  Pope,  and  the 
bailly,  after  a  violent  interview,  ceased  his  visits  at  the 
Vatican.  He  claimed,  however,  that  the  best  way  to 
retard  the  promotion  would  be  to  have  it  supposed 
that  the  French  Court  was  eager  for  it,  as  he  had  to  deal 
with  a  Pope  who  always  wished  to  do  the  reverse  of  what 
the  king  desired.'  An  open  and  strenuous  opposition  to 
Retz's  ambition  was  interposed  by  the  Prince  of  Cond^. 
Cond^  had  no  desire  to  see  his  inveterate  enemy  clothed 
with  the  dignity  of  the  purple,  and  entitled  to  the  prece- 
dence which  the  French  Court  granted  to  cardinals.  He 
had  for  his  agent  one  Montreuil,  well  known  for  his  wit 
and  gallantry,  who  amused  the  Pope,  without  however 
accomplishing  much  by  the  ingenious  intrigues  he  en- 
deavored to  weave. 

A  more  dangerous  obstacle  to  Retz's  pretensions  was 
the  charge  that  he  was  a  close  ally  of  the  Jansenists  and 
inclined  to  favor  their  heresies.  The  quarrel  of  Jansen- 
ism was  then  raging  fiercely,  and  the  Jansenists  were  re- 
garded as  little  better  than  Protestants  at  the  papal  Court. 
They  were  believed  capable  of  a  dangerous  insubordina- 
tion to  the  papal  authority,  and  the  influence  of  the  Jesu- 
its at  Rome  was  vigorously  exercised  against  these 
enemies.  The  secretary,  Chigi,  when  he  himself  became 
Pope,  used  all  his  authority  for  the  overthrow  of  the  follow- 
ers of  Jansen,  and  to  him  the  accusation  of  a  tendency  to 
such  beliefs  was  the  most  injurious  that  could  be  made. 
The  Pope  demanded  of  Retz  before  his  promotion  a  writ- 
ten denial  of  any  such  heresies.  No  one  was  less  apt  to 
be  involved  in  any  doctrinal  difficulties,  than  the  coadju- 
tor. He  was  neither  a  Molenist  nor  a  Jansenist,  and  re- 
garded questions  of  efficacious  and  sufficient  grace  with 

'  Letter  of  the  Bailly  of  V.'»len9ay,  December  irth. 


l66      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

philosophical  indifference.'  "  It  is  wrong  to  accuse  him  of 
being  a  Jansenist,"  said  a  pamphleteer,  "  for,  before  a  man 
can  be  a  Jansenist,  he  must  first  be  a  Christian."  The  Abb6 
Charrier  had  been  furnished  with  letters  signed  in  blank 
to  be  filled  in  case  of  necessity,  and  he  accordingly  wrote 
over  Retz's  signature  an  equivocal  denial  of  any  tendency 
to  Jansenism  and  presented  it  to  Chigi.  The  coadjutor 
was  much  pleased  with  this  device,  and  wrote  approvingly 
to  the  abb6  :  "  I  know  already  all  the  interview  you  had 
with  M.  Chigi  on  Jansenism,  and  how  to  amuse  him  you 
wrote  a  forged  letter,  of  which  I  much  approve." 

But  Retz  hesitated  about  committing  himself  in  any 
formal  manner  on  this  subject.  His  political  career  had 
brought  him  in  close  relations  with  many  disciples  and 
friends  of  the  Port  Royal,  who  were  largely  found  on  the 
side  of  the  Fronde.  If  he  was  disappointed  in  his  hopes 
of  promotion,  to  become  a  leader  of  the  Jansenist  move- 
ment might  gratify  his  restless  activity,  and  enable  him  to 
show  the  Pope  that  in  rejecting  a  useful  ally  he  had  made 
a  dangerous  enemy.  He  directed  his  agent  to  suggest 
this  possibility  as  one  of  the  reasons  for  his  promotion. 
"  It  is  just,"  he  wrote,  "  that  I  should  sustain  my  position  by 
doing  either  good  or  evil ;  which,  will  depend  on  the  treat- 
ment that  I  receive.  On  this  subject  you  must  let  yourself 
be  understood,  rather  than  speak  openly,  and  as  you  have  al- 
ways been  a  great  knave,  I  do  not  doubt  that  you  will  per- 
form this  commission  well.  Remember  to  suggest  Jansenism 
as  something  in  which  resentment  may  engage  me,  though 
I  have  as  yet  taken  no  part  in  it."  '  "  It  is  for  the  interest 
of  the  Court  of  Rome  not  to  light  a  fire  in  France  which 
would  be  extinguished  with  difficulty,  and  which  would 
arouse  spirits  who  are  now  sleeping  in  a  Christian  and  sub- 
missive peace,  but  who  little  by  little  might  even  withdraw 
themselves  from  the  obedience  of  the  church." 

He  sent,  however,  in  February  a  letter  to  Charrier  which 
might  be  shown  to  the  Pope,  full  of  subtlety  and  eloquence, 
in  which  he  claimed  a  righteous  indignation  that  any  such 

'  Guy  Joly,  69.  '  Letter  of  Nov.  25th. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    167 

declaration  should  be  asked  from  him,  and  said  that  he 
would  rather  die  by  martyrdom,  than  corrupt  by  temporal 
considerations  the  testimony  of  his  conscience.  He  sug- 
gested, however,  rather  than  asserted,  in  language  worthy 
of  a  father  of  the  church,  the  views  which  he  held  and  his 
veneration  for  the  church's  head.  A  more  ingenious  letter 
was  never  written,  nor  a  better  example  given  of  how  far 
intellect,  without  conviction,  can  furnish  the  language  of 
sincerity  and  religious  faith. 

Other  considerations  besides  Jansenism  were  suggested 
to  hasten  the  Pope's  action.  Retz  made  a  cardinal  could 
be  a  far  more  powerful  adversary  to  Mazarin,  whom  the 
Pope  hated.  The  States-General  might  soon  be  held  and 
Retz  would  be  a  member.  With  a  cardinal's  hat,  he 
would  there  be  the  powerful  defender  of  the  authority 
of  the  church.  Without  it,  his  great  influence  might  be 
used  in  ways  that  would  be  prejudicial  and  dangerous.' 
There  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that  Innocent  intended 
from  the  first  to  make  Retz  a  cardinal,  but  he  proceeded 
with  the  deliberation  always  characteristic  of  the  papacy, 
and  he  wished  to  make  other  promotions  at  the  same 
time.  The  unwelcome  news  of  Mazarin's  return  to  France 
hastened  the  Pope's  action.  Retz  had  often  suggested 
the  possibility  that  his  nomination  might  be  recalled. 
"  Claim  always,"  he  wrote  Charrier  in  January,  "  that  you 
fear  a  revocation.  Not  that,  between  you  and  me,  I  be- 
lieve my  nomination  will  be  soon  revoked,  but  it  is  well 
that  you  should  talk  in  this  manner."  If  Mazarin  actually 
intended  to  revoke  the  nomination.  Innocent  at  the  last 
gave  him  no  opportunity.  The  French  ambassador  was 
kept  in  entire  ignorance  of  the  Pope's  intentions.  On 
the  1 2th  of  February,  the  bailly  wrote  that  he  did  not 
believe  any  promotion  would  take  place  during  Lent,  and 
that  Providence  was  assisting  the  Court  in  its  desire  for 
delay,  until  the  coadjutor  could  render  service  before 
receiving  his  recompense.  The  ambassador  had  been 
or(^ered   to  resume  his  visits  at  the  Vatican,  and  had  de- 

'  Letter,  Dec.  i8th. 


1 68      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

manded  an  audience  for  Friday  of  the  week  of  the  19th 
of  February.  On  the  morning  of  the  19th,  the  Pope  an- 
nounced the  promotion  of  ten  cardinals.  Secretary  Chigi 
was  one  of  them,  and  Retz  was  another.  His  letter  on 
Jansenism  had  not  yet  been  received,  but  Innocent  had 
resolved  to  delay  no  longer.  "  All  the  world  agrees,"  wrote 
the  bailly,  "  that  the  true  reason  for  the  Pope's  decision  was 
the  fear  that  there  should  arrive  a  change  in  the  French 
nomination."  "  Yesterday,"  said  the  Gazette  of  France  of 
the  2d  of  March,  "  was  received  the  happy  news  of  the 
promotion  made  by  his  Holiness  of  the  coadjutor  of  Paris 
to  the  cardinalate,  which  has  spread  an  incredible  joy  in 
the  hearts  of  all  worthy  men,  who  believe  the  great  virtues 
of  this  learned  prelate  fitly  honored  by  the  purple.  For 
one  can  form  no  other  judgment,  than  that  these  are  so 
many  steps,  by  which  he  mounts  to  this  sublime  dignity 
of  the  church."  Mazarin  joined  in  the  congratulations 
which  the  new  cardinal  received,  but  he  ordered  a  severe 
reprimand  sent  to  the  ambassador  for  having  failed  to 
hinder  the  promotion.  Retz  had  at  last  received  this 
long-desired  honor.  It  was  to  prove  the  end  of  his  po- 
litical career,  and  he  claimed  in  after  years  to  regret  that  he 
had  obtained  what  he  sought  so  eagerly,  so  skilfully,  and 
so  unscrupulously. 

The  alliance  between  Orleans  and  Conde,  which  had 
loTig  been  eagerly  pressed  by  the  prince  and  coyly  de- 
clined by  the  duke,  was  brought  about  by  Mazarin's  return. 
Orleans  said  that  he  would  rather  become  a  Turk,  than  con- 
sent to  the  cardinal's  reestablishment.*  On  the  24th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1652,  a  treaty  was  signed  by  which  the  two  princes 
bound  themselves  to  call  together  the  States-General,  and 
to  make  no  peace  until  Mazarin  should  again  be  expelled.' 
In  this  treaty  Retz  did  not  join.  Mazarin's  threatened 
return  had  compelled  him  to  take  some  definite  position, 
and  he  declared  to  the  Court,  that  while  friendly  to  the 
cardinal,  he  must  oppose  his  return.     But  the  cardinal's 

'  Let.,  Dec.  16,  1651,  Aff.  Etr.  France,  877. 
*  Aff.  Etr.  France,  t.  88,  piece  60. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND   MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    1 69 

hat  which  he  received  kept  him  so  far  faithful  to  the 
interests  of  the  king,  that  he  did  not  ally  himself  with 
Cond^,  but  continued  to  oppose  that  prince  with  pamph- 
lets and  subterranean  plottings.'  From  all  this  turmoil  of 
intrigue  and  confusion,  he  still  hoped  to  find  himself  either 
the  leader  of  a  third  party,  or  the  successor  to  Mazarin's 
power.  He  was  apparently  willing,  however,  that  Orleans 
should  ally  himself  with  the  Prince  of  Conde  and  he  nursed 
his  hostility  to  Mazarin." 

Important  military  changes  soon  followed  the  new 
alliance,  but  the  operations  of  the  king's  troops  continued 
to  be  successful.  In  Anjou,  the  Duke  of  Rohan  Chabot 
had  invited  the  inhabitants  to  declare  for  Cond6.  This 
nobleman  had  become  illustrious  by  marriage,  and  he  was 
under  deep  obligations  to  the  prince  for  his  great  fortune.* 
Henri  de  Chabot,  a  gentleman  of  Poitou,  of  no  large  estate 
gained  the  affections  of  Marguerite  de  Rohan,  the  daugh- 
ter and  the  heiress  of  the  name  and  great  possessions  of 
the  heroic  Duke  of  Rohan.  It  was  said  that  his  grace  at 
balls  and  ballets  attracted  her  attention,  and  that  he 
danced  into  fortune.  Such  a  marriage  was  far  above  the 
rank  of  Chabot,  but  he  had  been  supported  in  his  suit  by 
Cond6,  had  gained  his  bride,  and  had  himself,  been  made 
a  duke,  with  the  title  of  Rohan  Chabot.  He  now  at- 
tempted in  Anjou  to  make  a  vigorous  opposition  to  the 
king's  forces.  They  proceeded  to  lay  siege. to  the  city  of 
Angers,  and  all  France  was  for  a  while  in  suspense,  watch- 
ing the  outcome  which  might  have  produced  important 
results,  if  the  defence  had  been  long  and  vigorous.*  The 
command  of  the  forces  of  Orleans  was  given  to  the  Duke 
of  Beaufort,  and  he  attempted  to  lead  reinforcements  to 
the  city.  His  movements  were  slow,  and  Rohan's  defence 
was  pusillanimous.*     On  the  28th  of  February  the  gates 

'  "  Je  perirais  plutot  que  de  me  racommoder  avec  ce  traitre."  Retz  to 
Charrier,  letter  of  Jan.  ig,  1652. 

•  Mazarin  k  Fouquet,  March  4,  1652.     Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  23,202. 

*  For  the  family  of  Chabot,  see  "  Ilistoire  de  Poitou  "  by  Thibeaudeau, 
ii.,  49.  *  Rochefoucauld,  325. 

'  Letter  of  Beaufort.  Aff.  Eir.  Franco,  889.,  6l. 


170       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

of  Angers  were  opened  to  the  royal  troops,  and  the  im- 
portant province  of  Anjou  became  subject  to  the  royal 
authority.  The  Duke  of  Rohan  had  permission  to  retire 
to  Paris.  "  He  commenced  as  a  Rohan,  he  has  finished  as 
a  Chabot,"  said  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 

In  the  south  of  France,  the  insurgents  were  no  more 
successful.  Harcourt  continued  his  series  of  small  victories, 
and  Cond6  was  harassed  by  the  internal  discords  which 
had  arisen  in  Bordeaux,  and  which  were  to  be  the  ruin  of 
his  party  in  Guienne.  He  had  been  urged  by  many  of 
his  followers  to  leave  that  province,  proceed  toward  Paris, 
and  assume  command  of  the  forces  which  were  assembled 
in  that  part  of  the  kingdom.  He  was  annoyed  by  the  de- 
feats his  party  had  sustained,  and  impatient  to  leave  a 
province  with  whose  dissensions  he  was  unfitted  to  deal, 
and  where  his  scanty  forces  compelled  him  constantly  to 
retreat  before  the  enemy.' 

On  Palm  Sunday  he  started  on  his  journey,  accompanied 
by  only  six  followers,  and  disguised  as  a  servant  of  the 
Marquis  of  L^vy.  The  party  travelled  with  great  rapid- 
ity and  were  exposed  to  many  perils.  In  eight  days  they 
traversed  one  hundred  and  twenty  leagues  almost  with- 
out change  of  horses,  riding  night  and  day,  and  several 
times  barely  escaping  capture  by  the  king's  troops.  The 
Duke  of  Rochefoucauld,  who  accompanied  the  prince,  was 
suffering  from  the  gout,  and  his  son  Marcillac  was  nearly 
drowned  in  crossing  one  of  the  morasses  that  rendered 
travelling  dangerous  in  those  days  of  imperfect  communi- 
cation.' Near  the  canal  of  Briare,  several  regiments  were 
stationed  and  there  was  danger  of  encountering  the  king's 
troops  at  every  step.  The  prince  rode  on,  with  Marcillac 
one  hundred  paces  ahead,  and  Rochefoucauld  one  hundred 
behind,  that  he  might  be  informed  of  any  approach  in 
either  direction.  Suddenly  four  horsemen  appeared  close 
upon  them.     Fearing  that  others  had  surrounded  them, 

'Rochefoucauld,  347.  In  November,  1651,  Morosini  wrote:  "  Multi- 
plicano  nella  citta  di  Bordeos  cosi  numerosi  le  male  soddisfationi  di  quelli 
habitant!  contro  il  Principe  di  Conde,"  etc.     Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  49. 

•  Rochefoucauld,  356-365.     Gourville  Memoirs,  504-6. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZAHIN'S  HE  TURN.    \yi 

they  prepared  to  charge   and    die,  rather  than  be  taken^ 
but  the  cavaliers  proved  to  be  friends. 

On  April  ist  Cond6  arrived  at  the  army  of  the  insur- 
gents and  was  greeted  with  much  enthusiasm.  The  army 
had  accomplished  little  under  generals  who  were  at  once 
inefficient  and  inharmonious.  While  Beaufort  com- 
manded the  forces  raised  by  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 
Beaufort's  brother-in-law,  the  Duke  of  Nemours,  had 
been  sent  by  Cond6  to  command  the  foreign  soldiers 
furnished  by  his  Spanish  allies.  Under  Nemours*  lead- 
ership these  troops  had  marched  into  the  heart  of 
France,  pillaging  along  the  way,  after  the  custom  of 
the  soldiers  of  the  day,  who  made  amends  for  the  poor  pay 
they  received  from  their  leaders,  by  the  abundant  plunder 
they  extorted  from  the  peasants.'  Nemours  wasted  some 
time  in  Paris  in  festivities  that  were  said  to  be  carried  on 
with  such  debauchery,  that  men  and  women  became  intoxi- 
cated together.  The  two  armies  then  united,  but  the 
brothers-in-law  were  so  hostile  that  they  accomplished  little 
though  their  forces  were  larger  than  those  of  the  king. 

In  an  unimportant  skirmish  at  Jargeau,  the  Baron  Si- 
rot,  the  most  skilful  and  experienced  officer  in  their  army, 
was  mortally  wounded.  His  military  life  had  been  long,, 
varied,  and  brilliant.  During  fifty-five  years  he  had  gal- 
lantly assisted  at  the  siege  of  many  cities,  which  had  all 
been  taken,  and  in  sixteen  pitched  battles,  which  had  all 
been  won.  He  had  never  passed  through  a  siege  or  a- 
battle  without  receiving  a  wound,  and  his  body  was  tat- 
tooed with  honorable  scars.  He  had  pressed  near  enough 
in  battle  to  the  kings  of  Bohemia,  of  Denmark,  and  of 
Sweden  to  have  fired  his  pistol  at  all  three,  and  claimed 
to  have  wounded  them  all.  He  received  his  last  wound 
at  this  skirmish,  and  it  was  said  his  irritation,  at  being  un- 
able to  be  with  his  command  when  Cond6  joined  the  army, 
hastened  his  end.* 

•  Dis.  Ven. ,  cxiv. ,  147.  The  citizens  of  Paris  were  much  distressed  at  the 
presence  of  6,000  Spanish  soldiers  laying  waste  the  heart  of  France. 

•  Letter  from  Paris  of  April  12.,  1652,  printed  in  the  appendix  to  "  Mme> 
de  Longueville  pendant  la  Fronde,"  Montpensier,  96,  7. 


1/2       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

The  only  noteworthy  achievement  before  Condi's  arrival 
from  Guienne  was  securing  the  city  of  Orleans  to  the  cause 
of  the  princes.  Like  so  many  of  the  notable  acts  of  the 
Fronde,  this  was  the  work  of  a  woman.  Mademoiselle, 
the  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  was  now  twenty-four 
years  old.  She  was  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  Orleans' 
first  wife,  and  inherited  the  vast  possessions  of  the  house 
of  Montpensier.  Alike  her  birth  and  her  wealth  made 
her  a  proper  match  for  kings  and  princes,  and  to  matri- 
mony Mademoiselle  gave  a  constant  and  eager  attention, 
which  was  to  result  in  her  dying  unmarried  at  sixty-six. 
Her  hopes  had  first  been  excited  at  nineteen,  by  the 
suggestion  of  marriage  with  the  Emperor,  who  had  just 
become  a  widower.  The  possibility  of  becoming  an  em- 
press, and  her  desire  for  such  a  lot,  led  her,  she  tells  us, 
to  endeavor  to  form  her  habits  for  her  fortune,  and  hearing 
that  the  Emperor  was  devout,  she  sought  to  immerse 
herself  in  the  religious  severities  of  the  Carmelites,  read 
only  the  life  of  St.  Theresa,  and  listened  to  no  talk  save 
of  Germany  and  the  Germans.  But  the  pious  Emperor 
found  consolation  in  another  wife,  and  Mademoiselle 
abandoned  the  life  of  St.  Theresa.  There  was  next 
held  out  the  prospect  of  an  alliance  with  the  Archduke 
Leopold,  with  Flanders  to  be  set  off  to  the  new  couple, 
and  peace  between  France  and  Spain  to  be  cemented 
by  their  union.  Though  much  debated,  this  was  never  ef- 
fected. New  hopes  were  excited  a  few  years  later  by  the 
dangerous  illness  of  the  young  Princess  of  Conde.  "  Many 
people  said,"  writes  Mademoiselle,  that  "  if  she  should  die, 
I  might  marry  the  prince.  I  dreamed  on  this.  In  the 
evening,  walking  in  my  chamber,  I  reasoned  on  it  with 
Pr^fontaine,  and  found  the  matter  was  feasible,  from  the 
union  which  existed  between  Monsieur  and  the  prince." 
But  the  Princess  of  Cond6  recovered,  and  marriage  with  her 
husband  was  not  feasible.  Another  suitor  was  found  in 
Charles  the  Second  of  England,  who  was  then  an  exile  at 
the  French  Court.  He  was  ardent.  Mademoiselle  tells 
us,  and  his  mother  was  eager.     But   Charles  was  a  king 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.     1 73 

without  a  crown,  and  Mademoiselle  and  her  family  hesi- 
tated about  devoting  her  great  estates  to  the  recovery 
of  a  lost  kingdom.  Of  lords  and  dukes  of  less  degree  there 
were  many  who  would  have  desired  so  great  an  alliance, 
but  their  pretensions  were  not  considered  sufficient  by  a 
would-be  queen  or  empress.  The  marriage  which  seemed 
the  most  attractive  of  all  was  one  with  her  cousin,  Louis 
the  Fourteenth.  He  was  eleven  years  younger  than  she, 
but  such  an  alliance  might  seem  the  best  way  to  propitiate 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  and  secure  peace  for  the  kingdom. 
It  was  hinted  at  by  emissaries  of  the  Court,  but  the  matter 
did  not  go  beyond  hints.' 

An  opportunity  now  offered  for  Mademoiselle  to  please 
her  vanity,  by  posing  as  a  rival  of  Mme.  de  Longueville 
and  the  other  heroines  of  the  Fronde,  and  perhaps,  also, 
fairly  to  bombard  Louis  into  matrimony.  The  king's- 
forces  sought  to  obtain  possession  of  the  important  city 
of  Orleans,  and  it  was  necessary  to  send  some  one  there  to 
oppose  their  efforts.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  did  not  wish 
to  go  ;  his  daughter  was  eager,  to  go,  and  she  was  accord- 
ingly sent  to  assume  the  command  in  his  name.  Though 
frivolous  in  her  views.  Mademoiselle  was  courageous,  gen- 
erous, and  beside  her  father  assumed  almost  the  propor- 
tions of  an  heroic  character.  She  was  encouraged  in  her 
expedition  by  the  friends  of  Cond^.  Mme.  de  Chatillon 
told  her  that  she  and  the  Duke  of  Nemours  had  talked  for 
two  hours  on  the  day  before  about  making  her  queen  of 
France,  and  that  she  should  not  doubt  that  Cond<§  would 
labor  for  this  end  with  all  his  heart.  Accordingly  Made- 
moiselle mounted  in  her  carriage  with  the  countesses  of 
Frontenac  and  Fiesque,  whom  the  wits  dubbed  her  inar<f- 
cJialcs  de  camp,  and  accompanied  by  a  few  soldiers,  pro- 
ceeded rapidly  to  Orleans.  The  gates  were  closed,  and 
the  officers  of  the  king  demanded  entrance  at  one  side  of 
the  city  and  Mademoiselle  at  the  other.*    A  judicious  use 

'  These  various  matrimoni.il  plans  are  described  in  "  Memoires  de  Mile, 
de  Montpensier,"  and  are  frequently  referred  to  in  the  diplomatic  correspond- 
ence of  the  time.  *  Talon,  473. 


174       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

of  money  made  her  success  easier.'  The  gates  continued 
closed,  but  some  of  the  boatmen  plying  on  the  Loire  took 
her  in  their  barges  and  rowed  her  to  where  the  river  passes 
under  the  city  walls.  An  opening  was  knocked  in  some  old 
passage  over  the  river,  and  Mademoiselle  scrambled  up  a 
ladder  placed  on  two  boats.  One  of  the  rounds  was  broken, 
and  she  found  great  difficulty  in  mounting  the  gap.  But 
she  says  she  counted  nothing  difficult  which  was  advan- 
tageous to  her  party,  and  she  reached  the  opening,  was 
pushed  through  the  hole  by  a  valet,  and  at  last,  dirty  but 
triumphant,  she  entered  the  city. 

She  received  a  hearty  welcome  from  the  officials  and 
inhabitants,  and  installed  herself  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  as 
governor  of  the  place.  Her  reception  ended  the  efforts 
of  the  king's  forces  to  gain  admittance.  Mademoiselle 
enjoyed  discussing  campaigns  with  the  generals  and  poli- 
tics with  the  aldermen,  and  her  reputation  as  a  heroine, 
which  she  had  so  suddenly  gained.  But  perhaps  no  com- 
pliment pleased  her  more  than  that  of  the  adroit  courtiers, 
who  insinuated  that  the  new  Joan  of  Arc  had  saved  Or- 
leans from  its  enemies,  after  first  repelling  the  English  in 
the  shape  of  Charles  II.  She  found,  however,  thorns  in 
power.  She  desired  to  admit  Conde  into  the  city  on  his 
arrival  from  Guienne,  but  the  burgesses  objected  to  his 
reception.  The  aristocratic  feelings  of  the  princess  were 
outraged  by  any  doubts  cast  on  the  rightness  of  Condi's 
actions,  and  she  declared  that  the  intentions  of  the  great 
should  be  like  the  mysteries  of  the  faith ;  it  did  not  be- 
long  to  common  people  to  penetrate  them,  but  only  to 
revere  them  and  believe  that  they  were  always  for  the 
welfare  and  the  safety  of  the  state.  She  was  tried  also 
by  the  dissensions  between  Beaufort  and  Nemours.  These 
belligerent  brothers-in-law  quarrelled  and  struck  each  other 
in  her  presence.  She  compelled  them  to  surrender  their 
swords  to  her,  and  Beaufort  expressed  his  regret  for  his 
conduct  and  his  sorrow  for  Nemours'  unfounded  hostility 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  163.  "  Con  denari  c  promessi  guadagnarono  li  bat- 
teliere. " 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    1 75 

to  him.  Nemours,  however,  remained  angry  and  impo- 
lite. In  May,  Orleans  being  now  firm  in  the  cause  of  the 
princes,  Mademoiselle  and  her  female  lieutenants  re- 
turned to  Paris.  On  her  way  she  visited  Condi's  army, 
was  received  with  the  honors  due  a  victorious  gen- 
eral, was  shown  a  review,  and  the  polite  officers  offered 
to  fight  a  battle  with  the  king's  forces  for  her  enter- 
tainment. She  declined  this  spectacle  and  passed  on  to 
Paris. 

In  the  meantime,  Conde  had  assumed  command  of  the 
army,  and  its  movements  were  marked  by  new  vigor.  He 
found  the  Marshal  of  Hocquincourt  encamped  at  Bleneau, 
while  Turenne,  who  had  been  made  general  of  the  king's 
forces,  was  at  a  short  distance.  Cond^  resolved  to  lead 
the  attack  at  once,  and  endeavored  to  defeat  the  two 
branches  of  the  army  separately.  The  assault  on  Hoc- 
quincourt was  vigorous  and  successful.  The  royal  forces 
were  speedily  routed.  The  camp  equipage  and  provisions, 
3,000  horses,  a  large  number  of  soldiers,  Hocquincourt's 
silver  service,  his  jewels,  and  much  of  his  money  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  king  and  the  Court  were 
at  Gien,  and  the  news  of  this  defeat  spread  consternation 
and  almost  panic.  It  seemed  for  a  few  hours  as  if  Cond^ 
was  to  become  master  of  the  kingdom  by  a  single  brilliant 
movement,  but  his  triumph  was  brief.  Turenne  promptly 
led  his  troops  to  the  assistance  of  the  routed  forces  of 
Hocquincourt.  Unwilling  to  encounter  Condi's  cavalry 
in  the  open  field,  he  placed  his  army  on  a  height,  com- 
manded by  artillery,  and  strongly  protected  by  a  wood 
and  some  neighboring  marshes.  A  sharp  encounter  at 
once  began  in  the  defile  which  led  to  the  hill,  and  a 
pitched  battle  seemed  imminent  between  the  two  greatest 
generals  of  France.  But  Cond6  was  unwilling  to  risk  the 
fortune  of  the  war  against  a  general  like  Turenne  en- 
trenched in  a  position  of  great  strength.  He  fell  back,  and 
two  or  three  days  later  he  left  the  army  and  proceeded  to 

'  Memoires  de  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier,  89-109.  Dis.  Ven.,  adr., 
163,  et  seq. 


176       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN.       ' 

Paris.'  Napoleon  criticises  both  leaders.  Turenne,  he 
says,  should  be  blamed  for  opposing  the  whole  army  of 
the  Fronde  with  a  single  division  of  the  royal  army,  in- 
stead of  waiting  for  reinforcements  from  Hocquincourt 
and  Bouillon  to  have  made  him  equal  or  superior  in 
numbers.  Cond6,  on  the  other  hand,  lacked  in  audacity, 
and  fearing  to  attack  Turenne  when  his.  forces  were 
superior,  lost  the  possibility  of  speedy  victory  for  the  cer- 
tainty of  slow  defeat. 

Chavigni  and  other  of  Condi's  friends  had  desired  that 
he  should  go  at  once  to  Paris.  The  importance  of  the 
victory  at  Bleneau  was  magnified  in  the  city,  and  with 
these  fresh  laurels  Conde  believed  that  he  could  check  the 
intrigues  of  Retz,  overawe  the  friends  of  the  government, 
arouse  the  enthusiasm  of  his  own  followers,  and  that  Paris 
firm  in  his  cause  would  carry  the  kingdom  with  it.  In 
truth,  few  men  were  less  fitted  than  Conde  to  deal  with  the 
caprices  of  a  great  city,  and  to  gain  either  strength  or  glory 
by  plots  and  counterplots.  When  he  left  his  army  for  the 
capital,  he  found  only  disappointment,  defeat,  and  disgrace. 
The  burgesses  were  by  no  means  desirous  of  receiving  so 
turbulent  and  powerful  a  visitor,  but  it  was  stated  that 
Conde  came  to  Paris  only  to  confer  with  Orleans  for 
a  little  time,  perhaps  not  over  twenty-four  hours.  After 
that  he  would  return  to  the  army,  and  Orleans  pledged 
his  word  that  during  this  time  there  should  be  no  disorder 
in  Paris.  Upon  such  conditions  the  city  government  dis- 
regarded the  order  of  the  king  and  consented  to  Condi's 
entry.'  On  April  nth  he  drove  into  the  city,  followed  by 
fifty  carriages  filled  with  his  friends  and  retainers,  and  scat- 
tering louis  d'or  among  the  pick-pockets  and  vagabonds, 
who  lighted  bonfires  and  filled  themselves  with  bad  liquor 
in  honor  of  his  arrival.     The  prince  appeared  in  the  Par- 

'  Rochefoucauld,  366-374.  Gourville,  506,  507.  Duke  of  York,  536,  537. 
Memoires  (le  Turenne,  435-436.  Dis.  Vcn.,  cxiv.,  173-5.  Hocquincourt's 
jewels  and  money,  which  he  had  with  him  in  camp,  and  which  were  captured, 
amounted  to  400,000  francs. 

'  Registres  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  ii.,  232-5.  Journal  du  Temps  Present,. 
254,  ^/  seq. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    177 

liament,  but  he  was  coldly  received.  President  le  Bailleul 
said  that  he  wished  he  could  have  seen  him  in  his  place 
under  other  circumstances  than  the  present,  when  a  con- 
demnation issued  by  the  king  and  registered  by  the  Par- 
liament still  hung  over  his  head,  and  when  his  hands  were 
red  with  the  blood  of  loyal  Frenchmen.  These  words 
excited  a  violent  commotion  among  Condi's  adherents, 
but  an  angry  discussion  was  the  nearest  approach  to  wel- 
come which  the  prince  received.* 

The  feeling  in  Paris  was  very  confused,  and  the  practi- 
cal unanimity  which  had  been  found  there  in  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  Fronde  had  passed  away.  Some 
months  before  this,  the  change  had  been  noticed  by 
Retz,  than  whom  no  man  knew  better  the  ebb  and 
flow  of  passion  and  feeling  in  the  great  capital.  In 
January  he  wrote  to  Charrier :  "  As  for  Paris,  I  do  not 
remark  the  warmth  which  there  was  formerly  on  such 
occasions.  They  cry  out  enough  against  Mazarin  and  the 
queen,  but  they  do  no  more." '  As  the  spring  advanced 
there  was  much  misery  and  discontent  in  the  city,  and  a 
weariness  of  turmoil  came  over  the  citizens.  Prices  were 
high.  In  March  one  of  Mazarin's  correspondents  wrote 
him  from  Paris,  that  misery  was  increasing  every  day  from 
the  dearness  of  provisions,  and  one  saw  such  attenuation 
in  the  bodies  of  the  poor  that  they  seemed  perishing  in 
plain  sight.  Such  a  condition  caused  apprehension  of  the 
pest.  Wheat,  according  to  the  writer,  was  already  over 
two  dollars  a  bushel  and  meat  thirty  cents  a  pound.* 
Some  of  the  artisans  declared  they  would  rather  see 
the  king  back,  even  though  he  brought  Mazarin  with  him, 
than  to  be  without  work  for  themselves  and  bread  for  their 
families  during  disorders  that  had  no  end.  Merchants 
and  burgesses  complained  even  more  than  the  artisans. 
The  members  of  the  Parliament,  they  said,  debated  and 
prated  and  drew  their  wages,  while  mechanics  were  starv- 

'  Talon,  475-476.  Dis.Ven.,  cxiv.,  175,  176.  Journal  du  Temps  Present, 
262,  263.  •  LeUer  of  Jan.  5,  1652. 

•  A£f.  Etr.  Fr.,  889,  piice  64.     Cited  in  Cheruel  i.,  147. 


178      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

ing,  while  mercenary  soldiers  were  cutting  the  green 
crops  and  burning  the  farm-houses  about  Paris,  while 
manufactories  were  stopped,  fairs  were  abandoned,  no  boat 
or  pack  train  could  go  in  safety,  there  was  no  money 
to  pay  workmen,  and  no  market  to  sell  goods.  The 
number  of  the  poor  who  demanded  charity  in  Paris  was 
very  great,  and  a  hundred  thousand  more  were  ashamed 
to  ask,  but  were  sorely  in  need.'  Mazarin  employed 
money  freely  in  paying  for  the  services  of  pamphleteers, 
who  endeavored  to  stimulate  returning  loyalty.  He 
directed  Fouquet  to  advance  6,000  livres,  to  be  used 
among  the  people  or  for  publishing  pamphlets.  He  sent 
money  to  be  given  to  the  clergy,  that  they  might  persuade 
their  flocks.'  The  cry  of  "  Vive  Mazarin  !  "  was  heard  in 
the  streets  by  night,  and  some  of  the  bourgeois  said  they 
would  rather  have  twenty  foreign  cardinals  than  a  day  of 
battle  in  the  streets  of  Paris.^ 

Amid  all  these  disturbing  elements,  the  members  of  the 
Parliament  and  the  officers  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  pursued 
a  vacillating  policy  that  made  them  equally  odious  to  the 
king,  the  princes,  and  the  populace.  All  were  agreed  that 
they  wanted  to  be  rid  of  Mazarin.  Orleans  and  Cond6 
declared  that  if  Mazarin  were  sent  away  again  they  would 
ask  no  more,  which  was  false.  The  judges  and  aldermen 
said  that  if  the  king  would  come  back  to  his  good  city  of 
Paris  without  Mazarin  they  would  be  contented,  which 
was  true.  Assemblies  of  the  different  courts  were  again 
held  at  the  Chamber  of  St.  Louis,  but  they  disputed 
about  questions  of  precedence  and  dignity,  and  did  little 
more  than  implore  the  king  to  send  away  the  cardinal.* 

Cond6  and  Orleans  were  as  uncertain  in  their  course  as 
were  the  counsellors  of  the  Parliament  and  the  colonels 
and  aldermen  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  Mme.  de  Longue- 
ville  in  Guienne  had  continued  to  advise  war;  but  when 
Cond^  reached  Paris,  he  was  subjected  to  influences  that 

'Talon,  483-490.     Conrart,  550,  551. 

'  Lettres  4  Fouquet,  Cipher  Mss.,  Bib.  Nat.,  23,202.,  29,  33,  etc. 

*  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  199. 

*  A  full  account  of  these  meetings  is  found  in  Talon,  470  et  seq. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    1 79 

tended  towards  peace.  His  mistress,  Mme.  de  Chatillon, 
was  as  beautiful  as  his  sister,  but  less  heroic'  Early  mar- 
ried to  one  of  the  family  of  Admiral  Coligny,  she  had 
been  early  left  a  widow.  She  had  been  the  lady-love  of 
the  Duke  of  Nemours,  and  had  now  a  strong  hold  on  the 
affections  of  Conde.  She  was  greedy  for  admiration  and 
still  more  greedy  for  money.  After  seeing  one  lover 
killed  and  another  exiled,  she  was  to  marry  a  German 
prince,  and  to  die  at  seventy  with  the  reputation  of  being 
almost  the  richest  and  altogether  the  meanest  woman  in 
France.  Over  this  woman,  who  was  as  attractive  and  as 
unprincipled  as  any  of  the  heroines  of  the  Fronde,  Maza- 
rin  secured  an  easy  hold  by  offering  her  large  bribes  to 
induce  Cond(§  to  make  peace.  She  had  an  acute  and  a  zeal- 
ous assistant  in  the  Duke  of  Rochefoucauld.  Rochefou- 
cauld was  weary  of  war,  and  disappointed  in  ambition,  and 
to  this  was  now  added  a  spiteful  jealousy  of  the  woman  he 
had  so  long  adored.  Among  the  many  misfortunes  of  the 
last  few  months  in  Guienne,  Mme.  de  Longueville,  whether 
justly  or  unjustly,  had  excited  Rochefoucauld's  jealousy 
and  injured  her  own  reputation.  If  she  had  not  been  con- 
stant to  marital  obligations,  she  had  thus  far  been  true  to 
the  laws  of  romance.  But  when  Nemours  went  south  he 
had  relieved  his  military  duties  by  devotion  to  Condi's 
sister.  Whether  she  was  weary  of  her  sarcastic  and 
despondent  admirer,  or  for  whatever  reason,  she  gave 
much  encouragement  to  Nemours,  and  Rochefoucauld 
came  to  Paris  filled  with  pique  and  rage.  "  He  told 
me,"  says  Mme.  de  Motteville,  "  that  from  jealousy  and 
vengeance  he  did  whatever  the  Duchess  of  Chatillon 
wished." 

With  such  negotiators  terms  of  peace  were  proposed  to 
the  Court.  It  was  provided  by  them  that  Mazarin  should 
retire  from  the  kingdom,  but  Cond6  seems  to  have  been 
willing  that  there  should  be  a  tacit  understanding  that 

'  Conde  showed  his  affection  in  the  way  she  liked  best,  by  giving  her  land» 
of  which  the  rental  was  said  to  be  ten  thousand  crowns  a  year  (Muse  histori- 
que  of  Loret).  Mademoiselle  said  that  the  Bourbons  gave  so  rarely,  that 
when  they  gave  at  all  ihey  always  gave  wrong. 


l8o      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

this  retirement  should  only  be  temporary."  If  personal 
advantages  could  be  secured,  he  was  ready  to  abandon  the 
nominal  pretext  for  the  years  of  rebellion  which  had  devas- 
tated half  of  France  and  caused  as  much  misery  in  that 
kingdom  as  all  of  Richelieu's  wars  with  foreign  powers. 
Orleans  and  Conde  were  to  be  charged  with  the  negotia- 
tions for  peace  with  Spain.  Orleans  was  to  be  satisfied 
in  his  demands  and  his  friends  were  to  have  their  de- 
sires gratified.  Cond6  was  to  have  the  government  of 
Provence,  Nemours  the  government  of  Auvergne,  Roche- 
foucauld a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  crowns  to  buy  a 
government,  and  other  friends  and  followers  were  to  be 
rewarded  with  titles  or  money.  Mme.  de  Chatillon,  it  is 
said,  was  to  have  a  hundred  thousand  crowns  for  her  ser- 
vices. Mazarin  received  and  considered  these  propositions, 
but  he  had  no  thought  of  acceding  to  them.*  All  these 
intrigues  made  Orleans  distrustful  of  Conde,  the  Parlia- 
ment distrustful  of  both,  and  the  people  distrustful  of  all 
three.'  The  Parliament  also  carried  on  its  own  negotia- 
tions, but  they  resulted  in  nothing.  Mazarin  was  a  past 
master  in  diplomacy  of  this  sort,  and  by  it  he  gained  time 
for  himself  and  bred  division  among  his  enemies. 

As  they  could  not  obtain  the  terms  they  wished,  the 
princes  desired  that  the  Parliament  and  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  should  unite  with  them,  and  the  city  of  Paris  should 
thus  be  fully  enlisted  in  their  cause.  The  judges  were 
willing  to  join  in  the  demand  for  Mazarin's  expulsion,  but 
they  were  not  willing  to  unite  in  the  other  requests  of  the 
princes.  Unable  to  find  the  support  among  the  better 
classes  which  the  old  Fronde  had  once  possessed,  Conde 
endeavored  to  enlist  the  populace  in  his  cause.  By  an  ap- 
peal to  the  lowest  element  in  Paris,  it  was  hoped  that  the 
courts  and  city  council  would  be  driven  to  his  support. 
By  inflaming  the  worst  classes  he  would  terrorize  the 
better  classes.     When  Cond6  and  Orleans  made  their  en- 

'  Morosini,  who  was  well  informed,  wrote  on  May  28th  :  "  Conde  si  e  pero 
resoluto  ad  approvare  la  dimora  del  cardinal,"  t.  cxiv.,  212. 

'  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  23,202.     Mazarin  k  Fouquet,  May  7lh,  also  p.  20^ 
•  Dis.  Ven..  cxiv.,  188. 


CONDE  '  S  REBELLION  A  ND  MA  ZA  RIN '  S  RE  TURN.    1 8 1 

try  into  the  city,  a  mob  of  five  or  six  thousand  vagabonds 
and  blackguards  gathered  at  the  Pont  Neuf  insulting  pas- 
sers-by and  reviling  Mazarin.  Even  ladies  in  their  car- 
riages were  compelled  to  stop  until  they  should  utter 
filthy  passwords  of  abuse,  and  the  favor  of  this  disorderly 
clement  was  cultivated.'  "  1  am  weary,"  said  the  prince,  "  of 
rendering  an  account  of  my  actions  to  these  little  fellows, 
who  when  I  make  war,  say  I  wish  to  take  the  crown  from 
the  king's  head,  and  when  I  propose  peace,  call  me  a  Ma- 
zarinite.  I  will  reason  no  more  with  these  knaves,  but  I 
will  teach  them  to  behave  and  show  the  respect  that  is  my 
ue. 

As  Cond6  and  the  Duke  of  Beaufort  came  from  the 
grand  chamber  on  May  15th,  they  told  the  people  that  the 
Parliament  was  trifling  with  them  and  would  resolve  on 
nothing.  The  mob  gathered  and  howled,  Union  !  Union  ! 
and  then  rushed  for  one  of  the  entrances  to  the  court,  and 
forced  it  open.  The  judges  hastily  passed  a  resolution, 
asking  the  king  for  a  speedy  answer  to  their  request  for 
Mazarin's  dismissal,  and  escaped  from  the  palace  by  other 
entrances.' 

On  the  4th  of  May  Turenne  had  won  a  small  victory 
at  Etampes,  and  Conde  was  resolved  to  counteract  the 
discouragement  caused  by  this  defeat.  Saint  Denis  was 
near  Paris,  and  scantily  garrisoned,  and  an  attack  upon  it 
offered  an  opportunity  for  an  easy  victory.  On  the 
morning  of  the  nth  of  May  Cond4  rode  through  the 
streets  crying  out,  "Let  him  who  loves  me  follow  me; 
let  us  go  and  beat  the  Mazarinites."  He  was  soon  lead- 
ing a  motley  army  of  20,000  ill-armed  or  unarmed  men. 
Some  gathered  about  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  demanded 
arms  for  the  service  of  the  princes,  but  they  were  told 
that  no  arms  could  be  furnished  except  for  the  defence  of 
the  city.  The  wives  of  those  who  were  married  made  so 
terrible  an  uproar  at  these  preparations  for  battle,  that  many 
of  the  warriors  stayed  behind,  ensuring  peace  at  home  and 

•  Talon,  474.     Journal  du  Temps  Present,  255,  256,  etc. 
'  Conrart,  555.  *  Registres  de  I'Mottl  <lc  Vi  K-,  ii  ,  321. 


1 82       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARJN. 

avoiding  danger  abroad.  Leading  a  few  thousand  of  these 
irregular  troops,  mostly  shop-boys  and  cut-purses,  together 
with  about  1,500  regular  soldiers,  Cond^  proceeded  to  St. 
Denis.  A  few  hundred  Swiss  mercenaries  guarded  the 
town  and  the  abbey.  Conde  forced  an  entrance  into  the 
place  after  a  short  resistance,  and  reaching  the  abbey  and 
monastery,  demanded  that  the  Swiss  should  surrender  at 
once,  or  he  would  pillage  and  burn  all  that  he  found. 
Fagots  were  piled  up  against  the  great  door  of  the  church 
ready  for  lighting.  The  Swiss  were  in  no  condition  to 
make  a  successful  resistance,  and  the  monks  besought  them 
to  yield  the  punctilios  of  honor  and  save  the  property  of 
the  Lord.  They  accordingly  surrendered.'  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  next  day,  which  was  Sunday,  Cond^  marched 
into  Paris  leading  sixty  Swiss  prisoners  two  by  two,  with 
his  citizen  soldiery  as  triumphant  as  if  they  had  come  from 
Lens  or  Rocroi.  A  garrison  had  been  left  at  St.  Denis, 
but  on  the  12th  Turenne  sent  the  king's  forces  against 
the  town,  and  by  vespers  the  attack  was  begun.  The 
place  was  retaken  as  easily  as  it  had  been  captured.  The 
monks  who  had  been  reviled  as  Mazarinites  the  day  be- 
fore, were  now  accused  of  being  Frondeurs.  A  party  of 
Condi's  troops  had  taken  refuge  in  the  tower  of  the  abbey. 
Their  surrender  was  demanded,  and  the  unhappy  prior 
and  under  prior  were  roundly  abused  for  not  compelling 
it.  Part  of  the  abbey  was  set  on  fire  and  even  the  sanc- 
tuary of  St.  Denis,  the  apostle  of  the  French,  was  pro- 
faned by  the  flames.  The  monk  tells  us  that  the  person 
who  ordered  the  fire  to  be  lighted,  perished  a  few  weeks  later 
by  a  violent  death.  Fighting  went  on  in  the  abbey  itself. 
Some  were  wounded  in  the  cloisters,  and  one  soldier  was 
shot  dead  on  the  steps  of  the  tomb  of  Francis  L     Fifty 

'  The  troops  entered  the  monastery,  and  as  the  under  prior  appproached 
a  party  of  them  cried  out,  "  There  goes  a  Mazarinite,"  and  he  was  glad  to 
escape  with  sore  shoulders  and  his  cowl  torn  off  his  head.  Conde,  however, 
was  courteous,  and  expressed  no  desire  except  for  food.  It  was  fast  day, 
and  all  the  monks  could  furnish  him  was  fruit  and  two  fresh  eggs.  The 
prince  ate  one  with  great  appetite  and  gave  the  other  to  Rochefoucauld. 
— Chronique  de  rAbbny'\ 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    1 83 

of  Condi's  soldiers  climbed  over  the  vaulting  of  the 
Chapel  of  the  Valois  and  reaching  the  garden  made  their 
escape.  Those  who  were  left  in  the  tower  at  last  surrend- 
ered. The  monks  were  much  embarrassed  in  conscience 
by  the  question  of  whether  the  church  must  be  reconse- 
crated after  the  sacrilege  it  had  suffered.  It  was  at  last 
decided  that  a  fresh  consecration  was  not  necessary.  The 
monks  returned  to  their  pious  labors,  and  the  abbey  again 
resounded  only  with  matin  song  and  vesper  prayer.  The 
bones  of  the  kings  were  to  rest  in  peace  until  the  mob 
came  a  hundred  and  forty  years  later  to  tear  them  from 
their  tombs.' 

A  new  actor  now  appeared  at  Paris.  The  Duke  of 
Lorraine  had  long  been  a  duke  without  a  duchy,  and  he 
lived  as  a  princely  highwayman,  having  under  his  com- 
mand a  small  but  well-disciplined  army  of  mercenaries, 
whose  services  he  sold  to  any  party.  He  endeavored  to 
draw  pay  from  both  sides,  and  to  preserve  his  troops  by 
allowing  them  to  fight  on  neither  side.  His  assistance  was 
solicited  by  his  brother-in-law,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  by 
the  Prince  of  Conde.  He  promised  them  his  support,  and 
at  the  same  time  suggested  to  Mazarin  that  he  might 
furnish  his  army  for  the  aid  of  the  king.'  In  diplomatic 
deceit  and  the  art  of  lying  he  was  not  inferior  to  the 
cardinal,  and  he  marched  his  army  into  France  holding 
out  hopes  and  extending  promises  to  all  parties.  If  there 
was  doubt  as  to  his  final  object,  it  was  clear  that  his  im- 
mediate object  was  plunder.  On  the  banners  of  his  army,, 
it  was  said,  the  legend  ran,  "  Strike  hard,  take  every  thing, 
and  yield  nothing."  The  march  of  his  troops  was  an  un- 
broken course  of  robbery,  arson,  and  murder.'  His  army 
consisted  of  twelve  thousand  men,  accompanied  by  four 
thousand  women  and  four  thousand  servants.  Much  of 
the  territory  through  which  they  passed  was  already  so 

'Conrart,  551,552.  Registres  de  1' Hotel  de  Ville,  322-328.  Livre  des 
Choses  Memorables  de  I'Abbaye  de  St.  Denis,  336-394. 

*  In  September,  1651,  Mazarin  wrote  that  Lorraine  offered  an  alliance, 
and  if  they  could  not  get  Conde's  good-will  it  had  best  be  accepted. — Mss. 
Bib.  Nat.,  23,203.,  16.  *  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  227. 


1 84       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

desolate,  that  only  a  soldier  of  Lorraine  could  glean  any- 
thing from  it.  In  some  places  the  people  were  reduced 
to  living  on  bread  made  of  bran,  and  on  grass,  snails,  dogs, 
and  cats.'  Where  the  soldiers  could  find  nothing  to  eat 
they  at  least  found  houses  to  burn,  and  they  pillaged  im- 
partially the  homes  of  the  peasants  and  of  the  gentlemen. 
Some  towns  bought  exemption  by  paying  enormous 
fines.  Where  no  money  could  be  obtained  the  soldiers 
avenged  themselves  by  destroying  whatever  they  could 
find. 

Early  in  June  Lorraine  reached  Paris,  and,  leaving  his 
army  near  the  city,  he  himself  entered  the  capital.  He 
had  a  reputation  for  bravery ;  his  manners  were  frank  and 
jovial,  and  he  became  the  hero  of  the  day.  But  though  he 
was  greeted  with  much  honor  by  the  princes  and  the 
populace,  the  Parliament  refused  to  receive  an  open 
enemy  of  the  state.  He  found  amusement  during  his  stay 
by  telling  of  the  brutalities  of  his  troops,  how  they  had 
made  soup  of  nuns,  and  there  were  among  them  a  thousand 
men,  any  one  of  whom  would  undertake  to  murder  Mazarin 
for  an  old  silver  piece.  He  was  willing  to  make  love  to 
all  the  Amazons  of  the  Fronde,  though  Mme.  Montbazon 
pleased  him  most,  being  the  equal  of  any  in  beauty,  and 
excelling  all  in  vice. 

But  while  the  duke  would  talk  love  he  would  not  talk  busi- 
ness. Etampes  was  besieged,  and  as  the  news  came  that 
it  was  hard  pressed  the  princes  endeavored  to  draw  from 
him  some  plan  of  action.  The  only  answer  he  would  give 
was  to  sing  and  dance,  to  play  on  his  guitar,  and  tell 
stories  so  broad,  that  they  brought  blushes  even  to  the 
cheeks  of  the  ladies  of  the  Fronde.  "  If  it  was  not  known 
he  was  a  very  able  man,"  says  Mademoiselle,  "  one  would 
take  him  for  a  fool." 

His  army  in  the  meantime  was  encamped  near  the 
village  of  Choisy,  pillaging,  and  cutting  the  unripe  hay  and 

'  Archives  des  Aff .  Etr. ,  cited  by  Haussonville, 

'  Montpensier,  115.  Conrart,  556,  "  Reunion  de  la  Lorraine,  "etc.,  Haus- 
sonville, ii.,  330,  et  seq.  Talon,  488.  The  Venetian  minister  called  Lor- 
raine's conduct  very  bizarre,  t.  cxiv.,  226. 


CONDES  REBELLION  AND  MAZAJilN'S  RETURN.    1 85 

wheat.  The  unhappy  farmers  dared  not  complain,  because 
it  was  said  that  these  were  the  soldiers  who  had  come  to 
chase  away  Mazarin.  Their  leader,  however,  had  no 
thought  of  attempting  such  an  undertaking.  Through 
the  diplomacy  of  Chateauneuf  and  Mme.  de  Chevreuse, 
the  king  finally  made  a  treaty  with  Lorraine  by  which  the 
duke  agreed  forthwith  to  retire  from  France.'  In  order 
to  satisfy  such  lingering  pretences  of  good  faith  as  he 
made,  it  was  agreed  that  the  siege  of  Etampes  should  be 
raised.  To  relieve  this  city,  tha  duke  announced  to  his 
allies  at  Paris,  had  been  the  object  of  his  expedition,  and 
when  this  was  accomplished  he  could  retire  with  honor.  He 
accordingly  left  Paris,  though  he  would  gladly  have  kept 
his  troops  for  the  present  in  free  quarters  in  France.  But 
the  Marshal  of  Turenne  would  suffer  no  trifling  from  this 
freebooter.  He  led  his  forces  from  Etampes  to  Lorraine's 
camp,  and  informed  him  that  he  must  prepare  for  battle 
or  march  forthwith  on  a  route  indicated,  and  be  outside 
the  borders  of  France  within  twelve  days.  Refusing  to 
trust  his  word,  Turenne  demanded  hostages  for  the  per- 
formance of  this  agreement.  Lorraine  had  no  thought  of 
risking  his  army  in  a  battle  against  Turenne.  The 
hostages  were  given,  and  within  an  hour  his  troops  were 
under  march." 

This  desertion  carried  dismay  among  the  followers  of 
Cond^  and  Orleans.  Discouraged  in  their  hopes  of  aid 
from  Lorraine,  the  populace  became  still  more  violent 
against  the  delays  and  uncertainties  of  the  city  govern- 
ment and  of  the  judges.  If  no  help  came  from  outside,  it 
was  the  more  important  that  Paris  should  be  wholly  in 

'  Letters  of  Fouquet  and  other  documents,  Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  t.  883,  published 
by  Haussonville. 

*  Charles  II.,  of  England,  who  was  then  a  fugitive  at  Paris,  receiving  from 
the  French  king  a  pension  for  his  support,  acted  as  mediator  between  the 
two  generals.  His  brother,  the  Duke  of  York,  who  was  himself  to  be  de- 
pendent on  Louis'  bounty  many  years  later,  was  then  serving  as  a  volunteer 
in  Turenne's  army.  His  finances  were  so  low,  that  if  a  Gascon  gentleman 
had  not  lent  him  three  hundred  pistoles,  he  could  not  have  provided  himself 
with  the  moderate  equipments  that  were  necessary  for  the  service. — 
Turenne,  441,  442.     Mem.  de  York,  535,  543-545- 


1 86       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

the  cause.  If  timid  judges  who  had  no  thoughts  beyond 
their  fees,  and  sleek  aldermen  who  cared  only  for  their  shops 
and  their  merchandise,  would  not  do  what  the  interests  of 
the  state  demanded,  it  was  time  they  were  terrified  into 
vigor  and  patriotism.  Pamphlets  were  circulated  as  vio- 
lent as  those  of  later  revolutions.  "  Let  us  spare  neither 
great  nor  small,  young  nor  old,"  said  one  ;  "  Let  us  leave 
the  holes  we  live  in,  barricade,  kill,  and  sack,  and  sacrifice 
to  a  just  vengeance  whoever  is  not  for  liberty,  and  the 
true  party  of  the  king." 

In  the  troubled  condition  of  affairs  the  people  had 
demanded  that  there  should  be  a  solemn  procession  to 
St.  Genevieve,  the  patron  saint  of  the  town,  to  beseech  her 
to  aid  in  bringing  peace  and  driving  away  Mazarin.  The 
shrine  of  the  saint  was  borne  along  in  pious  state.  When 
it  passed  Cond6  he  rushed  to  it,  threw  himself  on  his 
knees  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  kissed  a  hundred  times 
the  holy  relic,  and  retired  amid  the  applause  of  the  popu- 
lace. "Ah  !  the  good  prince !  "  cried  the  fisherwomen 
and  the  boatmen,  the  cut-throats  and  the  thieves.  "  See 
how  pious  he  is."  '  Money  as  well  as  piety  was  used 
among  the  people.  Their  zeal  was  praised,  their  pockets 
were  filled,  their  superstition  was  gratified.  Thus  prepared, 
they  were  incited  to  violence  by  open  abuse  of  the  judges 
and  officials,  who  were  held  out  as  dead  to  the  public  weal, 
and  as  mere  tools  of  Mazarin. 

On  the  1 8th  of  June  a  general  assembly  of  all  the  city 
bodies,  with  representatives  from  the  religious  communi- 
ties and  the  trade  organizations,  was  held  in  the  Chamber 
of  St.  Louis  to  consider  measures  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor.  Little  was  done  there  except  to  discuss  the  great 
number  of  persons  who,  in  the  disturbed   condition  of 

'  Mme.  de  Motteville,  435.  Registres  de  1'  Hotel  de  Ville,  ii.,  364-377. 
This  procession  was  on  the  nth  of  June.  The  clergy  of  the  church  were 
required  to  furnish  a  breakfast  for  the  city  officers,  and  there  was  bitter  com- 
plaint because  they  gave  the  provost  and  a  few  of  his  associates  two  loaves 
of  bread  and  two  bottles  of  wine,  and  gave  the  others  nothing  at  all.  The 
complaints  of  the  hungry  aldermen  were  entered  in  their  official  minutes. 
—Reg,,  p.  373. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARJN'S  RETURN.    1 87 

trade  and  manufactures,  needed  aid  from  those  who  had 
any  thing  to  give.  On  Friday  the  twenty-first,  the  cham- 
bers of  Parliament  were  again  assembled  to  discuss  further 
the  needs  of  the  city  and  the  citizens.  The  Duke  of 
Orleans  could  not  be  present  because,  compelled  either  by 
his  health  or  his  timidity,  he  stayed  home  to  be  bled.  An 
angry  crowd  of  malcontents  gathered  around  the  palace, 
howling  alternately  "  Peace  !  "  and  "  No  Mazarin  !  "  Fear- 
ing a  more  serious  disturbance  the  judges  voted  to  adjourn 
to  the  twenty-fifth,  but  as  they  came  from  their  chamber 
some  of  them  were  roughly  handled,  and  one  had  his 
hat  knocked  ofT  and  his  head  punched. 

On  the  same  day  the  Duke  of  Beaufort  returned  from 
the  army  and  endeavored  to  increase  the  irritation  he 
found  among  the  dregs  of  the  population,  to  whom  he  was 
specially  dear.  Placards  were  posted  on  the  corners  of  the 
streets  asking  the  people  to  gather  in  the  Place  Royale, 
and  there  Beaufort  went  in  the  afternoon  and  harangued  a 
mob  of  hired  bravos  and  idle  and  restless  artisans.  He 
told  them  that  the  army  of  Mazarin  was  almost  at  their 
gates,  but  the  Parliament  and  the  Hotel  de  Ville  were  full 
of  the  cardinal's  followers  and  would  do  nothing.  They 
must  have  new  colonels  and  captains,  said  the  duke,  and 
have  money  voted.  He  himself  would  give  them  a  list 
of  the  houses  of  the  Mazarinites  which  they  could  visit, 
and  either  compel  the  inhabitants  to  contribute  for  the 
good  cause  or  drive  them  from  Paris.  If  this  were  done, 
within  three  months  they  would  have  peace  and  plenty, 
and  Mazarin  would  be  wearing  his  red  gown  outside  of  the 
French  boundaries.  The  mob  shouted  their  approval  and 
cried  out  that  their  lives  and  the  rags  on  their  backs  were 
all  at  Beaufort's  disposal.  He  bade  them  come  to  the 
palace  early  on  the  morning  of  the  next  day  with  their 
arms,  to  compel  the  Parliament  to  unite  with  the  princes. 
That  body,  however,  was  warned  of  some  such  disturbance, 
and  had  already  adjourned  till  the  twenty-fifth;  the 
city  officials  had  chains  fastened  across  the  streets,  and  the 
train  bands  patrolled  them  to  check  any  violence  or  plun- 


1 88      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

■der.  Beaufort's  conduct  was  ill  received  by  the  better 
element,  and  the  popularity  he  once  possessed  was  now 
found  only  among  the  lowest  classes.  "  He  has  talked 
like  a  bandit,  and  not  like  a  prince  or  a  gentleman,"  said 
the  president  Novion.  All  this  disturbance,  said  others, 
was  only  because  Beaufort  feared  his  associates  would 
make  a  treaty  without  him,  and  he  wanted  forty  thousand 
■crowns  for  his  lady-love,  the  Duchess  of  Montbazon.' 

On  the  twenty-fifth  the  Parliament  met  again,  with 
several  companies  of  the  city  guards  stationed  in  front  of 
the  palace  to  protect  it  from  violence.  The  judges  assem- 
bled at  eight,  but  it  was  not  until  after  a  seven  hours*  ses- 
sion that  they  succeeded  in  reaching  a  vote.  All  parties 
agreed  that  renewed  petitions  should  be  sent  to  the  king, 
but  the  judges  wished  to  send  the  former  deputies,  while 
Orleans  and  Cond^  wished  new  men  to  be  chosen.  It  was 
carried  against  the  wish  of  the  princes  by  a  vote  of  92  to 
85.  The  crowd  outside  had  already  come  to  blows  with 
the  guards.  Some  shots  had  been  fired,  three  or  four 
killed,  and  a  few  wounded.  As  the  counsellors  and  presi- 
dents came  from  the  palace,  the  mob  demanded  of  them 
what  had  been  decided.  The  answers  were  not  satisfactory, 
and  many  cried  out  that  unless  they  resolved  on  union  with 
the  princes  they  would  tear  them  to  pieces.  Some  of  the 
judges  received  only  abuse,  but  others  received  blows  as 
well.  Le  Coigneux  was  pursued  and  fired  at,  and  he 
escaped  only  by  finding  refuge  in  a  shop,  discarding  his 
gown,  and  appearing  in  disguise.  Most  of  them  passed 
through  a  running  fire  of  maledictions  accompanied  by 
kicks  and  blows.  Orleans  was  still  in  the  grand  chamber, 
and  as  he  heard  the  tumiilt  he  started  out  and  returned 
again  more  than  ten  times,  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  those 
who  asked  him  to  try  to  calm  the  mob.  At  last  he  was 
carried  off  in  safety  in  his  carriage.  Some  shots  were 
fired,  and  some  of  the  bourgeois  were  wounded  while 
watching  the  commotion  from  their  windows.  "They 
will  find  out,"  said  the  rioters,  "  that  firearms  are  more 

'  Coiirar;,  562-3.      'I'aloii,  491.      Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  240,  et  seq. 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    1 89 

dangerous  than  their  yard  sticks."  After  this  scene  of 
violence  the  most  of  the  judges  refused  to  attend  further 
sessions  of  the  Parliament,  for  fear  of  injury  to  life  and 
limb.  A  few  violent  Frondeurs  still  came  to  the  palace 
and  said  that  they  required  no  guards,  even  if  the  Maza- 
rinites  stood  in  need  of  them.  Broussel,  who  was  a 
respectable  tool  for  the  extreme  Frondeurs,  declared  that 
judges  should  want  no  guard  but  their  own  probity.  But 
neither  lawyers  could  be  found  to  plead,  nor  a  court  to 
hear  them,  in  the  terror  that  prevailed.' 

The  army  of  the  prince  was  now  stationed  at  St. 
Cloud,  burning  houses,  destroying  gardens,  and  giving 
much  offence  to  the  Parisians  who  owned  country  places 
in  the  environs.'  The  royal  army  had  marched  to  St. 
Denis,  and  from  there  it  was  expected  to  cross  the  Seine 
and  attack  the  prince  at  St.  Cloud.  To  prevent  this  he 
resolved  to  lead  his  forces  to  Charenton,  and  he  broke 
camp  during  the  night  of  the  1st  of  July.  By  four  on  the 
morning  of  the  second,  his  forces  were  under  way,  and 
they  marched  around  the  outside  of  Paris,  from  the  gate  of 
St.  Honor^  to  that  of  St.  Antoine,  where  they  reached  the 
direct  road  to  Charenton.  Turenne  had  at  once  moved  in 
pursuit,  and  after  some  skirmishing  near  the  gate  of  St. 
Martin,  by  nine  in  the  morning  he  came  up  with  Condd 
at  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine,  which  lay  south  of  the  Bas- 
tille. Turenne  was  superior  in  numbers,  but  an  addi- 
tional force  would  soon  have  reached  him  under  La  Fert6 
Seneterre,  and  he  would  then  have  had  an  overwhelming 
advantage.  Mazarin  and  the  king's  advisers  were,  however, 
eager  for  an  immediate  attack.  It  was  not  believed  that 
Paris  would  open  its  gates  to  admit  Condi's  forces.  De- 
prived thus  of  any  opportunity  for  retreat,  they  could  be 
driven  to  the  walls  and  exterminated,  and  the  war  ended 
by  one  battle.  Bouillon  advised  his  brother  to  attack 
at  once,  lest  his  prudence  should  be  interpreted  as  faint- 
heartedness for  the  cause  in  which  he  had  so  recently  en- 

'  Conrart,  S63-5.  Suite  du  Journal  du  Parlement,  1652,  1-23.  Talon» 
492,  493.     '  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  248.   "Giardini  ch'eranoladeliziadi  I'arigi." 


190       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

listed.  Cond6  fell  back  into  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine, 
and  the  battle  raged  fiercely.  He  found  there,  however, 
the  means  for  a  vigorous  defence.  Chains  and  barricades 
had  been  placed  in  many  of  the  streets  to  protect  them 
from  attacks  by  Lorraine's  soldiers,  and  behind  these 
Condi's  troops  made  a  stout  resistance.  The  streets  were 
narrow  and  cut  up  by  ditches  and  deep  ruts,  which  made 
it  difficult  for  cavalry  and  even  for  foot  soldiers  to  pass  over 
them.  The  houses  were  filled  with  soldiers,  and  an  irregu- 
lar but  murderous  fire  was  poured  from  the  windows  and 
the  roofs.  In  such  a  field  of  battle  both  sides  displayed  a 
reckless  bravery.  The  officers  led  their  troops  amid  firing 
in  front  and  from  either  side,  and  the  number  of  them 
killed  was  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  importance  of  the 
engagement,  or  the  total  number  of  the  slain. 

The  Marquis  of  St.  Megrin  had  for  years  borne  a  special 
hatred  against  Cond^.  He  had  cherished  a  strong  and 
unfortunate  love  for  Mile,  du  Vigean,  who  in  turn  enter- 
tained a  hopeless  affection  for  the  Prince  of  Cond^  and 
refusing  all  other  lovers,  had  abandoned  the  world  in  the 
freshness  of  her  youth  to  dream  of  him  amid  her  prayers 
in  the  monastery  of  the  Carmelites.'  St.  Megrin  resolved 
to  reach  Cond^,  and  by  killing  him  avenge  his  lost 
love  and  end  the  war.  Passing  through  the  soldiers, 
he  rode  with  a  company  of  light  cavalry  down  a  nar- 
row street,  and  charged  on  the  barricade  at  the  end. 
As  he  was  pressing  the  attack,  he  was  shot  dead  on  the 
spot.  There  was  mortally  wounded  with  him,  one  before 
■whom  a  great  career  seemed  to  be  open.  The  young 
Mancini  was  the  only  nephew  of  Mazarin  in  France,  and 
was  destined  to  be  the  inheritor  of  the  cardinal's  enormous 
"wealth.     Many  princes  of  the  blood  would  have  been  glad 

*  The  poets  sang  of  this  loss  to  the  court  : 

"  Lorsque  Vigean  quitta  la  cour, 

Les  jeux,  les  graces,  les  amours, 

Entrerent  dans  le  monast^re. 

Les  jeux  pleur^rent  ce  jour-li  ; 

Ce  jour  la  Beaute  se  voila, 

Et  fit  voeu  d'  etre  solitaire." 
See  also  Mem.  de  Conrart,  567, 


I 


COATDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZARIN'S  RETURN.    I9I 

to  exchange  lots  with  the  heir  of  the  chief  minister  of 
France,  and  the  richest  man  in  the  kingdom.  He  was 
but  sixteen,  brave,  handsome,  and  of  great  promise.  As 
he  was  gallantly  leading  his  soldiers,  he  was  struck  by  a 
bullet,  and  died  of  his  wounds  a  few  days  later. ' 

Condi's  followers  attacked  the  enemy  with  equal  valor. 
Beaufort,  Nemours,  and  Rochefoucauld  charged  down  a 
street  amid  firing  from  the  soldiers  behind  the  piles  of 
stones  and  in  the  houses,  and  captured  and  held  a  barri- 
cade almost  without  support.  In  this  reckless  and  useless 
assault  Nemours  received  thirteen  wounds,  and  Rochefou- 
cauld, struck  in  the  cheek  by  a  bullet  which  passed  under 
both  eyes,  fell  blinded  and  was  carried  away  from  the 
fight."  Cond6  acquitted  himself  with  the  skill  of  a  general, 
and  the  desperate  valor  of  a  reckless  soldier,  in  this  hand- 
to-hand  contest.  One  after  another  his  nearest  friends 
were  shot  down  and  carried  away  dead,  or  dangerously 
wounded.  At  last  the  troops  led  by  La  Fert^  Seneterre 
came  up  and  joined  Turenne.  Against  fresh  soldiers  and 
a  great  preponderance  in  numbers  neither  skill  nor  valoi 
could  longer  avail.  Condi's  soldiers  were  exhausted  by 
their  march  and  by  a  close  conflict  of  five  hours,  waged 
in  the  intense  heat.  Many  of  their  officers  were  killed  or 
disabled,  and  they  could  fight  only  with  the  recklessness 
that  comes  from  want  of  command.  The  gates  of  the  city 
were  still  closed  against  the  hard-pressed  and  overpow- 
ered troops,  and  the  destruction  of  Condi's  army  seemed 
imminent. 

But  in  the  hour  of  their  sore  need  a  safe  retreat  was  at 
last  opened  to  them.  No  union  with  the  princes  had  as 
yet  been  voted  by  the  Parliament  or  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
and  the  city  of  Paris,  therefore,  standing  neutral  between 

'  Party  hatred  did  not  spare  even  the  young  and  the  innocent.  In  the 
pamphlets  of  the  day,  we  find  one  that  tells  of  the  meeting  of  St.  Megrin  and 
Mancini  in  the  world  below,  and  of  the  apartments  prepared  in  hell  for 
Mazarin  and  his  family. 

*  The  Venetian  minister  sent  off  his  dispatch  while  the  fighting  was  going 
■on,  and  wrote  that  Rochefoucauld  had  just  been  brought  in  wounded,  and 
ihere  was  little  probability  of  his  living. 


192       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

them  and  the  king,  had  refused  entrance  to  the  forces  of 
either  side.  If  Orleans  had  ordered  the  gates  to  be  thrown 
open  for  the  retreat  of  Cond(§'s  army  he  would  have  been 
obeyed,  but,  as  the  danger  became  greater,  Orleans  grew 
more  timid.  His  greatest  anxiety  had  been  lest  Cond6 
should  station  his  army  in  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain. 
A  conflict  there,  Orleans  could  see  from  his  own  win- 
dows, and  the  artillery  of  the  king  could  throw  balls 
into  the  palace  of  the  Luxembourg.  On  the  day  of  the 
battle  he  walked  about  his  palace,  uncertain  as  to  his 
course,  alarmed  by  the  firing,  afraid  to  relieve  Cond^, 
afraid  to  leave  him  unrelieved,  and  whistling  every  tune 
ever  heard  in  the  Place  Royale. 

His  daughter  resolved  to  move  him  from  his  lethargy. 
Her  laurels  were  fresh,  and  she  wished  to  be  the  maid  of 
Paris  as  well  as  of  Orleans.  Sympathy  for  the  prince  and 
his  soldiers,  in  their  distress,  had  also  its  efTect  upon  the 
heroine,  who,  though  often  foolish,  was  always  good- 
hearted.  Admission  had  been  given  to  the  wounded 
soldiers,  and  the  constant  succession  of  these  during  the 
day,  in  every  condition  of  pain  and  mutilation,  had  ex- 
cited her  compassion  as  well  as  that  of  many  of  the 
citizens.  She  met  Rochefoucauld,  who  was  covered  with 
blood,  and  unable  to  see,  but  still  endeavoring  in  his 
misery  to  excite  the  citizens  to  the  relief  of  the  prince. 
By  her  resolution  she  obtained  from  her  father  an  order 
to  the  magistrates,  that  they  might  treat  her  as  his  repre- 
sentative and  follow  her  directions.  Thus  fortified,  she 
proceeded  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  followed  by  a  few  of  her 
attendant  Amazons.  She  demanded  of  the  city  fathers 
that  troops  should  be  sent  for  the  protection  of  the  Fau- 
bourg St.  Antoine,  and  that  they  should  order  the  gates 
to  be  opened  for  Condi's  troops.  The  king  had  written 
with  his  own  hand  warning  them  against  allowing  these 
soldiers  to  enter.  But  armed  with  her  father's  au- 
thority, and  with  the  influence  of  her  own  enthusiasm 
and  courage,  she  obtained  what  she  desired.  She  had  ac- 
companied her  prayers  with  threats,  that  if  they  were  not 


CONDE'S  REBELLION  AND  MAZAHIN'S  RETURN.    1 93 

heard,  she  would  order  her  soldiers  to  take  L'Hopital 
and  the  provost  of  the  merchants  and  throw  them  out  of 
the  window.  Troops  were  sent  to  the  Faubourg  and 
orders  given  that  the  wounded  should  be  received  into 
the  city,  and  if  Condi's  troops  were  hard  pressed  the 
gates  should  be  thrown  open  for  their  retreat. 

From  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  Mademoiselle  went  to  the 
Bastille.  Watching  from  there  the  battle  raging  in  the 
narrow  streets,  she  ordered  the  governor  to  turn  his  can- 
non upon  the  enemy.  Mazarin  and  the  king  were  sta- 
tioned upon  the  heights  of  Charonne,  from  which  they 
could  overlook  the  entire  combat,  and  hoped  to  see  the 
destruction  or  capture  of  Condi's  army.  As  they  stood 
there  a  puff  of  smoke  came  from  the  Bastille,  and  cannon- 
balls  were  fired  into  the  king's  forces.  They  did  little 
damage,  but  they  showed  that  Paris  had  at  last  de- 
clared for  Cond^,  and  that  his  army  was  safe.  Wearied 
and  hard  pressed,  Condi's  troops  saw  the  gates  opened 
for  their  retreat,  and  they  found  safety  within  the  walls  of 
Paris.  They  had  lost  about  a  thousand  killed,  and 
Turenne's  loss  had  been  nearly  the  same.' 

The  battle  might  be  regarded  as  a  drawn  one,  with  the 
advantage  for  Cond^  that,  as  a  result  of  it,  his  troops  had 
been  received  into  Paris  and  he  could  now  control  the 
city.  But  this  advantage  was  only  apparent.  He  could 
ill  afiford  to  lose  the  soldiers  that  had  fallen,  and  the  loss 
among  the  officers  and  nobles  who  had  been  earnest  in 
his  cause  was  still  more  serious.  The  possession  of  Paris 
by  an  unruly  soldiery  was  soon  to  lead  to  the  most  fatal 

'  For  accounts  of  the  battle  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Anloine,  see  Rochefou- 
cauld, 397-415.  Mademoiselle,  11S-125.  Conrart,  565-567.  Turenne, 
443,  444.  Duke  of  York,  545-550.  Reg.  de  I'llotel  de  Ville,  iii.,  39-47. 
Chronique  de  I'Abbaye  de  St.  Denis,  416-419.  Mem.  du  Prince  de  Tarente 
and  Relation  de  Marigny.  Motteville,  436-439.  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  249- 
252.  Morosini  says  if  Turenne  had  been  willing  to  do  his  duty,  and  press 
the  attack  as  Mazarin  desired,  he  could  have  destroyed  Conde's  army.  The 
Duke  of  Orleans  signed  an  order,  directing  the  officers  of  the  Bastille  to  fire 
on  the  army  of  the  king  and  assist  the  troops  of  Conde.  Mss.  Bib.  Nat., 
Fonds  Baluze.  But  it  was  undoubtedly  signed  at  his  daughter's  request,  and 
so  does  not  materially  alter  the  correctness  of  her  account. 


194       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

event  in  the  history  of  the  Fronde,  and  the  battle  of  the 
Faubourg  of  St.  Antoine  was  one  of  the  last  efforts  of  the 
nobles  in  opposition  to  the  royal  authority.  It  left  them 
exhausted,  disheartened,  struggling  against  a  final  defeat, 
that  had  now  become  certain.  Though  Condi's  army  had 
been  received  into  Paris,  the  sight  of  some  of  the  soldiers 
that  composed  it  filled  many  of  the  citizens  with  shame 
and  distress.  There  were  seen  in  the  capital  of  France 
soldiers  carrying  the  cross  of  Burgundy  and  the  red  scarf 
of  Spain,  and  it  seemed  as  if  Paris,  by  its  own  choice,  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Spanish.  These  bodies  of 
troops  added  to  the  agitation  which  already  existed  in  the 
city,  and,  countenanced  by  their  leaders,  they  excited  the 
massacre  which  appalled  the  Parisians  and  destroyed  the 
Fronde. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE   CLOSE   OF   THE   FRONDE. 

The  Parliament  was  unwilling  and  afraid  to  take  any  fur- 
ther part  in  the  confusion  that  existed,  but  it  called  a  gen- 
eral assembly  to  advise  on  the  measures  necessary  for  the 
welfare  and  safety  of  the  city.  This  met  on  July  4th,  at  the 
Hotel  de  Ville.  The  city  officers,  some  of  the  clergy, 
many  members  of  the  Parliament,  and  delegates  chosen 
from  the  various  parishes  were  in  attendance,  in  all  to  the 
number  of  three  hundred  and  ten.  From  them  the  princes 
desired  to  obtain  a  resolution  for  the  union  of  the  city  with 
themselves,  in  the  war  they  were  waging  against  the  king. 
The  majority  of  the  delegates  were  friendly  to  their  cause, 
and  had  Orleans  and  Cond^  attended  the  meeting  and 
asked  for  such  a  resolution,  it  probably  would  have  been 
adopted.  They  were  apparently  too  indifferent  to  do  this, 
and  preferred  to  leave  it  to  the  ruffians  among  their  ad- 
herents to  frighten  the  burgesses  into  cooperation. 

The  assembly  met  in  the  afternoon,  and  waited  for  the 
arrival  of  the  princes.  All  the  approaches  to  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  were  filled  with  a  dense  crowd  of  the  lowest  elements 
of  the  city,  who  threatened  the  passing  delegates,  unless 
they  decided  on  the  measures  that  were  required.  A 
message  arrived  from  the  king  forbidding  the  assembly, 
but  it  was  received  by  a  din  of  hooting  and  hissing.  Some 
hours  had  passed  since  messengers  had  gone  for  Orleans, 
and  as  no  answer  came  from  him,  the  members  resolved 
to  consider  what  had  best  be  done.  The  procureur- 
general  addressed  them,  and  ended  by  offering  a  resolu- 
tion that  the  king  should  be  asked  to  grant  peace  to  his 

195 


196        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

subjects,  and  return  again  to  his  city  of  Paris.  An  uproar 
at  once  began,  because  in  these  resolutions  there  was 
nothing  said  against  Mazarin.  The  officer  repHed  that 
his  whole  speech  had  been  directed  against  the  cardinal, 
but  that  there  might  be  no  uncertainty,  his  resolution 
should  request  the  king  to  return  without  Mazarin. 

It  was  now  nearly  six,  and  at  last  Orleans,  Cond^,  Beau- 
fort, and  a  few  other  nobles  made  their  appearance.  In 
order  to  distinguish  themselves  from  the  Mazarinites,  the 
adherents  of  the  princes  had  lately  chosen  the  device  of  a 
wisp  of  straw.  This  was  carried  not  only  by  the  men, 
but  by  women  and  children.  Even  the  horses  and  donkeys 
were  decorated  with  straw  as  they  dragged  their  loads 
through  the  streets.  The  princes  and  their  followers  now 
had  their  hats  liberally  adorned  with  straw,  and  waved  this 
emblem  as  they  passed  through  the  crowd.  They  took  their 
seats,  and  the  proceedings  of  the  assembly  were  read  to 
them.  They  asked  for  no  further  resolution,  and  as  it 
was  now  past  six,  they  at  once  left  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 
As  they  passed  through  the  mob  outside,  they  threw 
some  pieces  of  money,  and  said  that  nothing  had  been 
decided  and  the  place  was  filled  with  Mazarinites. 

It  needed  no  more  to  excite  the  ruffians  and  thieves 
who  now  blocked  every  entrance  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 
Hardly  had  the  princes  driven  away,  when  some  shots 
were  fired  and  bullets  began  to  strike  the  windows  of  the 
hall  of  the  assembly.  These  did  little  damage,  but  the 
soldiers  among  the  mob  taught  them  the  rules  of  warfare.' 
Ascending  the  buildings  around  the  square,  they  began  a 
raking  fire  into  the  hall,  from  above  or  on  the  same  level. 
The  delegates  threw  themselves  on  the  floor,  or  hid  in 
different  parts  of  the  building.  It  was  hoped  that  the 
mob  might  be  conciliated  by  the  action  which  had  been 
desired,  and  a  resolution  for  a  union  with  the  princes  was 
hurriedly  passed.  A  paper  containing  the  resolution  was 
thrown  from  the  windows,  and  the  priests  displayed  the 

'  The  Venetian  Ambassador  says  there  were  some  two  hundred  officers  of 
Conde's  among  the  mob,  disguised  as  boatmen. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE  1 97 

sacrament,  but  neither  had  any  effect  upon  the  populace. 
Miron,  of  the  Chamber  of  Accounts,  went  out  to  persuade 
them  that  the  assembly  had  done  all  that  was  wanted,  but 
he  was  murdered  in  the  Place  de  Gr^ve.  Some  of  the 
delegates  succeeded  in  making  their  escape  by  different 
ways  and  in  various  disguises.  Many  of  the  rioters  only 
desired  plunder,  and  for  liberal  pay  they  conducted  some 
of  the  magistrates  safely  home.  Others  were  butchered 
as  they  tried  to  escape,  and  the  most  of  them  remained  in 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  afraid  to  make  any  attempt  to  leave  it. 
The  entrances  to  the  building  were  guarded,  and  only  a 
few  of  the  rioters  succeeded  in  entering.  But  in  the  mean- 
time it  had  been  fired  in  several  places.  It  burned  very 
slowly,  but  the  smoke  and  heat  added  to  the  terror  of  the 
scene.  Pitch  had  been  piled  up  against  the  doors  and  oil 
poured  over  this,  in  order  to  start  a  sufficient  fire  to 
destroy  so  massive  a  building.  It  was  soon  filled  with  a 
dense  smoke,  and  this  was  accompanied  by  a  terrible 
smell.  As  the  fire  made  an  opening  at  the  great  door, 
one  of  Condi's  officers,  with  about  thirty  followers,  rushed 
in  to  mount  the  grand  staircase.  But  they  were  repulsed, 
and  many  of  them  killed.  It  was  feared,  however,  that 
by  the  fire  all  the  doors  would  soon  be  opened  to  the 
mob.  Some  of  the  rioters  now  forced  an  entrance. 
They  murdered  a  few  of  those  they  found,  but  their 
chief  desire  was  plunder.  The  delegates  barricaded 
various  rooms  with  furniture,  in  order  to  make  such  de- 
fence as  was  possible,  confessed  themselves  to  the  priests, 
and  prepared  for  death.  The  governor  of  the  city  and 
the  provost  of  the  merchants  were  known  to  be  friendly 
to  the  government,  and  they  were  specially  odious  to  the 
followers  of  Cond^.  The  governor  succeeded  in  escaping 
in  the  disguise  of  a  valet  through  a  crowd  clamoring  for  his 
death,  but  the  provost  remained  concealed  at  the  Hotel 
de  Ville.  It  was  now  eleven  at  night.  The  shooting  and 
occasional  murders  had  proceeded  leisurely  for  five  hours. 
The  heat  within  the  building  was  terrible,  and  its  inmates 
were  in  danger  of  soon  beinu  burned  to  death.     The  re- 


198       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

ports  of  this  butchery  had  been  carried  to  the  princes, 
and  they  were  told  that  as  many  of  their  adherents 
as  of  their  opponents  were  being  murdered.  They 
decHned,  however,  to  take  any  steps  to  check  it.  Cond6 
said,  laughingly,  that  he  was  a  poltroon  in  seditions 
of  this  sort.  Orleans  was  always  a  coward,  and  he  dared 
not  expose  himself.  But  Beaufort  was  said  to  be  in 
a  shop  near  the  scene  of  the  slaughter,  and  it  was  at  last 
decided  that  he  had  best  make  some  endeavor  to  stop  it. 
Mademoiselle  was  always  brave  and  kindly,  and  she  drove 
in  her  carriage  towards  the  Hotel  de  Ville  to  use  her  in- 
fluence in  quieting  the  rioters.  It  was  towards  midnight 
when  Beaufort  arrived.  Mademoiselle  came  somewhat 
later.  Beaufort  had  little  trouble  in  dispersing  the  mob. 
Some  cried  out :  "  It  would  be  better  to  roast  the  Maza- 
rinites,'  but  they  were  quieted.  Those  who  still  remained 
in  the  building  were  enabled  to  make  their  retreat  in  safety. 
The  provost  of  merchants  resigned  his  office  into  Mad- 
emoiselle's hands,  and  was  escorted  safely  to  his  home. 

By  two  o'clock  order  was  restored,  and  all  those  who 
were  in  danger  had  made  their  escape.  Attention  was 
now  turned  to  saving  the  building  from  destruction 
by  fire.  The  massive  stones  of  which  it  was  built  had 
made  the  progress  of  the  flames  very  slow.  The  people 
worked  incessantly  with  the  poor  supplies  of  water,  which 
could  be  obtained  for  conflagrations  at  that  time.  By 
nine  the  next  morning  the  fire  was  entirely  extinguished. 
It  had  done  some  damage,  but  the  main  portion  of  the 
building,  which  was  historically  the  most  interesting  in 
Paris,  and  among  the  most  beautiful,  escaped  destruction. 
By  a  curious  fate,  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  so  peculiarly  con- 
nected with  the  history  and  traditions  of  the  city  of  Paris, 
was  burned  in  1871  by  Frenchmen  and  Parisians,  similar 
in  character  to  the  mob  of  1652.' 

About  thirty  of  the  delegates  had  been  killed  or 
wounded,  and  as  many  as  one  hundred  and  fifty  others 

'  Registres  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  iil.,  51-75.  Dis.  Yen.,  cxiv. ,  253,  et  set], 
Mem.  de  Montpensier,  125-128.     Talon,  494-496.     Conrart,  567-574. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  1 99 

were  said  to  have  been  killed.  Cond6  had  not  designed 
this  series  of  brutal  murders,  but  he  had  deemed  it  ex- 
pedient to  terrorize  the  city  officials.  The  attack  had 
been  conducted  by  his  soldiers,  and  he  had  been  crimi- 
nally remiss  in  any  attempt  to  check  the  slaughter.' 
Little  effort  was  made  to  punish  the  perpetrators  of  these 
crimes.  Two  were  arrested  and  executed,  one  of  whom 
was  one  of  Condi's  cooks.  No  one  dared  to  make  any 
searching  investigation  into  the  matter,  and  the  ruffians 
who  had  allowed  some  deputies  to  escape  on  taking  what 
money  they  had  and  receiving  the  promise  of  more,  visited 
their  victims  and  demanded  the  remainder  of  the  ransom. 

It  had  been  intended  to  terrify  the  city  into  submission, 
and  this  massacre  produced  the  desired  result.  No  one 
questioned  further  any  wish  of  the  princes.  Many  of  the 
Parliament  and  city  officials  fled  from  Paris.  Meetings 
were  called  of  those  who  remained,  and  they  adopted 
without  debate  any  propositions  that  were  submitted. 
Broussel  was  unanimously  chosen  provost  of  the  mer- 
chants, and  this  ancient  imbecile  closed  his  career  by  ac- 
cepting a  vacancy  compelled  by  arson  and  murder.  He 
took  his  oath  of  office  before  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  instead 
of  the  king.' 

But  of  all  Condi's  mistakes  the  most  fatal  one  was  his 
belief  that  by  terror  and  violence  he  could  compel  Paris 
to  render  him  assistance  that  would  be  of  value.  The 
massacre  was  the  death-blow  to  his  party.  He  was 
regarded  by  all  as  responsible  for  scenes,  which  were  de- 
clared  to  be  the  most  brutal  that  Paris  had  ever  witnessed. 
All  except  the  refuse  of  the  population  were  filled  with 
loathing  for  political  parties,  who  sought  their  ends  by 

'  Conrart  says  that  as  Conde  and  Orleans  drove  away  from  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  they  said  :  "Ce  sont  des  Mazarins,  faites  ce  que  vous  voudrez."  The 
registers  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  say  the  princes  gave  money  to  some,  and  said 
the  Hotel  de  Ville  was  full  of  Mazarinites,  "  etq'il  falloit  mettremain  basse." 
Morosini  states  their  language  in  almost  the  same  words.  Rochefoucauld, 
Conde's  friend  and  companion,  says  the  prince  was  unjustly  accused  of  plan- 
ning the  massacre,  but  that  he  had  wished  to  frighten  those  who  were  not  ia 
his  interest. — Mem.,  417-419. 

'  Registres  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  iii.,  76-85. 


200      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

such  violence.  Paris  had  long  begun  to  weary  of  these 
civil  wars,  which  caused  disaster  and  were  productive  of  no 
good,  and  in  which  the  prejudices  of  the  people  against  an 
unpopular  minister  had  been  used  to  advance  the  greedy- 
plans  of  ambitious  leaders,  who  had  always  been  ready  to 
desert  their  supporters,  and  who  had  now  begun  to  murder 
them.' 

While  the  feeling  of  aversion  to  insurrection  was  grow- 
ing stronger,  it  was  resolved  to  yield  again  to  the  preju- 
dice against  Mazarin.  The  deputies  of  the  Parliament 
were  informed  by  Louis  that  so  soon  as  the  necessary 
orders  had  been  given  for  the  restoration  of  quiet  in  the 
kingdom,  the  cardinal  would  retire  from  the  ministry. 
Such  a  promise  was  agreeable  to  the  city  of  Paris,  but  not 
to  the  princes.  They  did  not  wish  a  peace  based  upon 
Mazarin's  retirement,  unless  that  was  accompanied  by  the 
personal  advantages  which  they  demanded.  The  declara- 
tion was  therefore  criticised  as  evasive  and  given  in  bad 
faith,  and  it  was  demanded  that  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
should  be  invested  with  an  authority  such  as  was  required 
by  the  difficulties  of  the  situation.  In  conformity  with 
this  request,  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  on  July  20th,  de- 
clared that  the  king  was  held  in  captivity  by  Cardinal 
Mazarin,  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans  was  chosen  lieutenant- 
general  of  the  kingdom  so  long  as  that  minister  continued 
in  France.  Conde  was  made  general-in-chief  of  the  army, 
and  it  was  decided  to  send  no  more  deputies  to  treat 
for  peace  while  Mazarin  remained  in  France."  The 
cooperation  of  the  other  Parliaments  was  asked,  but  none, 
except  that  of  Bordeaux,  were  willing  to  approve  of  so 
revolutionary  a  measure.  The  fiction  of  the  king's  cap- 
tivity under  Mazarin  had  become  ridiculous.  Louis  had 
attained  his  majority.  He  cornmanded  armies  of  thou- 
sands of  men,  and  the  only  captivity  he  suffered  was  that 
he  desired  to  have  the  cardinal  for  his  adviser.  For  a  Pari- 
sian court  to  assume  to  choose  a  .lieutenant-general  who 
should  act  against  the  king,   and  a  general-in-chief  who 

'  Talon,  495,  496.     Montpensier,  128.     Joly,  76,  etc. 

'  Journal  du  Parlement,  July  20th.     Talon,  497-501. 


€01iE< 


i 


rHE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  20I 

should  lead  armies  against  those  of  the  sovereign,  was  a 
revolutionary  act,  and  could  only  be  justified  by  a  popular 
demand  for  the  overthrow  of  the  royal  authority.  No  such 
desire  existed.  Cond^  was  gratified  at  being  enabled  to 
exercise  a  despotic  control  in  Paris,  but  while  he  compelled 
the  authorities  to  pass  resolutions  to  his  taste,  popular 
support  deserted  him,  and  he  was  soon  driven  from  the 
city  without  the  firing  of  a  gun. 

The  Parliaments  of  Rouen  and  Toulouse  protested 
against  this  act  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  The  other 
judicial  bodies  treated  it  with  indifference.  Orleans  issued 
a  proclamation  declaring  his  assumption  of  the  office  of 
lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom,  but,  except  in  Paris,  no 
one  recognized  his  authority.  He  proceeded,  however,  to 
appoint  a  council  of  state  to  act  as  his  advisers.  Cond^, 
Rochefoucauld,  Beaufort,  Chavigni,  and  some  other  noble- 
men, with  various  members  of  the  courts  and  of  the  city 
government,  composed  this  body,  whose  duties  were  to 
regulate  all  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom,  but  whose  exist- 
ence was  very  brief.  The  quarrels  between  some  mem- 
bers of  the  council  had  a  tragic  end.  Though  the  Dukes 
of  Beaufort  and  Nemours  were  brothers-in-law,  they  had 
long  been  unfriendly,  and  their  animosity  increased  with 
time.  The  quarrel  had  arisen  from  some  question  of 
precedence,  and  Nemours  now  insisted  on  a  duel.  As  they 
reached  the  grounds  back  of  the  Hotel  of  Vendome, 
Beaufort  tried  to  remonstrate  against  the  scandal  of  a 
duel  between  those  so  closely  allied.  Nemours  was 
implacable,  fired  his  pistol,  and  missed.  He  then  ad- 
vanced with  his  sword  and  Beaufort  shot  him  dead. 
Eight  seconds  took  part  in  the  duel,  of  whom  two 
were  killed  and  one  severely  wounded.  None  of  them 
had  any  controversy,  but  they  fought  with  the  fury  re- 
quired by  the  fashion  of  the  time.  Nemours  was  but 
twenty-eight.  He  was  brave,  witty,  quarrelsome,  and 
licentious,  and  was  a  fair  type  of  the  great  noblemen  who 
were  leaders  in  the  civil  wars  of  the  P"ronde.' 

'  Dis.  Yen.,  cxv.,  lo.  Montpensier,  128-130.  Marigny  k  Lenet,  Mss. 
Lenet,  7156  ;  ib.,  8409. 


202         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Money  was  needed  to  pay  the  troops  which  had  been 
enHsted  by  the  princes.  At  Orleans'  request  the  au- 
thorities of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  ordered  a  tax  of  800,000 
livres  to  be  imposed  on  the  city  of  Paris  to  defray  these 
expenses,  and  also  to  pay  the  150,000  livres  which  was 
still  offered  for  the  head  of  Mazarin.  Each  house  having 
a  porte  coch^re  was  to  pay  75  livres  or  1 50  francs,  the  shops 
paid  60  francs,  and  the  small  houses  30.  But  though  it 
was  easy  to  impose  the  tax,  it  was  found  impossible  to  col- 
lect it.  The  people  were  in  no  humor  to  pay  considerable 
sums  of  money,  under  an  illegal  assessment,  to  carry 
on  war  against  the  king.  The  armies  of  Cond6  and 
Orleans  had  been  reduced  by  the  engagements  of  the 
spring  and  summer,  and  they  lost  still  more  by  desertions 
from  want  of  pay.  They  had  numbered  as  many  as  twelve 
thousand  men,  but  by  August  they  were  reduced  to  two 
or  three  thousand.' 

The  advisers  of  the  king  resolved  to  establish  an  op- 
position to  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  that  the  king  might 
have  a  friendly  organization  which  would  have  the  weight 
of  that  great  name.  A  royal  declaration  required  the 
members  of  the  Parliament  to  meet  at  Pontoise,  where 
Louis  then  Avas.  It  was  not  supposed  that  the  body 
as  a  whole  would  regard  this  order.  Its  members  claimed 
that  the  king  had  no  power  to  order  their  sessions  to 
be  held  out  of  Paris,  and  they  avoided  any  discussion 
by  resolving  that  the  letters-patent  directing  the  transfer 
should  not  be  read  while  Mazarin  remained  in  the  king- 
dom. But  some  of  those  who  were  zealous  in  the 
royal  service  obeyed  the  call,  and  about  thirty  judges 
gathered  at  Pontoise  and  formed  what  the  king  recog- 
nized as  the  legal  Parliament  of  Paris.  Their  zeal  was  not 
unrewarded,  for  pensions  of  6,000  livres  were  afterwards 
granted  to  all  those  who  had  acted  as  members  of  the 
court  at  Pontoise.  By  their  brethren  at  Paris  they  were 
regarded  as  a  pope  regards  an  anti-pope.     A  resolution 

'  Registres  Hotel  de  Ville,  iii.,  122-127.  Memoires  du  Pere  Berthod,  582. 
Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.,  8,     Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  883,  pp.  24,  5,  9. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  205 

declared  that  unless  the  absent  members  within  eight 
days  returned  to  their  places,  they  should  forfeit  their 
offices,  and  they  and  their  posterity  should  for  ever  be 
incapable  of  holding  any  position  in  the  Parliament.* 

Unaffected  by  this  violent  and  foolish  action,  the  court 
at  Pontoise  proceeded  with  the  part  which  had  been  as- 
signed to  it.  Mazarin  had  resolved  for  the  second  time 
to  leave  France.  Many  had  claimed  that  his  return  in 
January  had  been  premature,  and  had  given  fresh  vigor  to 
Condi's  failing  rebellion.  He  himself  had  occasionally 
felt  that  more  time  should  have  been  given,  to  allow  the 
animosity  against  him  to  exhaust  itself.  It  was  now  plain 
that  the  feeling  which  had  so  long  sustained  the  commo- 
tions of  the  Fronde  was  giving  way  to  a  desire  for  peace, 
and  for  the  restoration  of  orderly  authority.  The  leaders 
in  the  rebellion  against  the  king  still  made  the  demand 
for  Mazarin's  exile  the  pretext  for  their  conduct,  and  if 
they  were  deprived  of  this,  they  would  lose  still  more  of 
the  public  support  which  was  so  fast  deserting  them. 

The  Parliament  at  Pontoise  accordingly  presented  its 
petition,  asking  the  king  to  restore  tranquillity  to  his 
people  by  sending  Mazarin  from  France.  The  cardinal 
seconded  this  petition,  and  asked  that  he  might  be  allowed 
to  retire.  But  Mazarin's  second  retirement  from  office 
was  very  different  from  his  first.  Then  he  had  fled  before 
a  combination  of  his  enemies,  leaving  the  queen  practi- 
cally a  captive,  with  the  Parliaments  all  over  France  ful- 
minating edicts  against  him,  and  with  a  large  portion  of 
the  population  both  hoping  and  believing  that  he  would 
never  again  resume  the  position  from  which  he  had  been 
driven.  The  regent  had  been  obliged  to  declare  that  she 
would  never  recall  him,  and  to  issue  proclamations  accus- 
ing him  of  inefficiency  and  crime.  When  he  left  the 
kingdom  for  the  second  time,  Orleans  and  Cond6  were  in 
open  rebellion  and  Paris  was  in  the  possession  of  the  insur- 
gents.    But  the  change  in  public  sentiment  during  a  year 

'  Journal  du  Parlement,  1652,  87-126.  Talon,  505.  Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.» 
16-22. 


204      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

and  a  half  allowed  the  king  to  adopt  a  very  different  tone 
in  reference  to  the  minister.  A  manifesto  recited  his  ser- 
vices, and  the  unjust  and  extraordinary  assaults  to  which 
he  had  been  exposed  by  those  who  were  now  in  league 
with  Spain.  But  that  entire  tranquillity  might  be  restored, 
the  king  acceded  to  the  petition  of  his  Parliament  and  the 
repeated  requests  of  Mazarin  himself,  and  allowed  the 
faithful  minister  to  retire  from  ofifice.' 

No  one  believed  that  this  retirement  would  be  long 
continued,  but  it  was,  however,  a  very  judicious  measure. 
It  embarrassed  the  princes  engaged  in  a  failing  cause,  and 
it  quieted  those  ready  to  cease  their  resistance  to  the  royal 
authority.  On  the  19th  of  August  Mazarin  left  Pontoise, 
escorted  by  a  large  body  of  cavalry.  He  went  to  Sedan 
and  from  there  to  Bouillon,  where  he  remained  for  some 
time.  His  departure  was  greeted  with  general  applause, 
and  it  increased  the  desire  for  peace  that  was  daily  be- 
coming stronger." 

Neither  Conde  nor  Orleans  intended  to  dismiss  their 
soldiers  and  cease  their  revolt,  merely  because  Mazarin 
had  left  the  country,  but  they  endeavored  to  propitiate 
public  opinion  by  an  answer  to  this  measure.  They  de- 
clared that  if  the  king  would  retire  his  troops  from 
about  Paris  and  from  Guienne,  would  grant  a  full  amnesty 
and  restore  all  things  to  their  condition  before  these 
troubles,  and  would  allow  a  safe  retreat  to  the  foreign 
soldiers  whom  the  princes  had  brought  into  the  heart  of 
France,  they  would  then  lay  down  their  arms.' 

There  was  no  thought  of  granting  any  such  extraordi- 
nary conditions.  The  princes  asked  for  passports  that 
they  might  send  deputies  to  treat  for  terms  of  peace,  but 
they  were  informed  that  passports  would  be  furnished 
when  they  had  laid  down  their  arms  and  renounced  their 
alliance  with  Spain.  Mazarin's  retirement,  they  had  de- 
clared, had  been  the  object  for  which  they  had  taken  up 
arms,  and  now  that  that  had   been  accomplished,  there 

'  Journal  du  Parlement,  1652,  108-113,  '  Dis.  Ven..  cxv.,  26, 

*  Registres  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  iii.,  223-7. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  20^ 

was  no  need  of  deputies  to  treat  of  terms.  They  had 
now  only  to  conduct  themselves  as  obedient  subjects  of 
the  king.' 

On  August  26th  an  edict  of  amnesty  was  issued. 
During  five  years,  this  said,  France  had  enjoyed  great 
prosperity,  and  her  armies  had  everywhere  been  success- 
ful. Then  internal  discords  had  arisen,  and  for  three 
years  they  had  so  hampered  the  resources  of  the  state,  that 
adversity  had  succeeded  to  prosperity.  Those  who  sought 
advantage  in  turmoil  had  declared  the  Cardinal  Mazarin 
to  be  the  cause  of  these  misfortunes,  and  in  165 1  he  had 
retired  from  the  ministry.  An  edict  against  his  return 
had  been  registered  at  the  king's  majority,  but  immedi- 
ately after  that  Cond^  and  his  adherents  had  again  begun 
a  civil  war,  and  had  leagued  themselves  with  Spain.  Yet 
if  all  those  who  were  now  in  rebellion  would,  within  three 
days,  lay  down  their  arms  and  would  send  from  the  king- 
dom the  foreign  troops  they  had  brought  into  it,  a  full 
amnesty  would  be  granted.  As  a  part  of  this  act  of  grace, 
however,  the  king  declared  that  all  edicts  of  the  Parlia- 
ment should  be  annulled  which  had  been  passed  since 
February  i,  1651,  and  had  any  reference  to  these  internal 
troubles.*  The  various  declarations  against  Mazarin  were 
thus  swept  away,  together  with  the  other  acts  of  eighteen 
months  of  turbulence  and  civil  war. 

The  French  kings  claimed  and  exercised  the  right  ta 
annul,  by  their  own  will,  the  edicts  registered  or  adopted 
by  the  courts.  Those  which  the  king  had  granted,  he 
could  revoke,  and  many  of  the  measures,  which  had  been 
adopted  by  the  Parliament  alone,  were  in  the  exercise  of  a 
political  jurisdiction  resting  neither  on  tradition  nor  statute. 
The  present  act  of  the  king  was  no  more  arbitrary  than 
the  acts  of  his  ancestors,  whenever  they  were  powerful 
enough  to  be  arbitrary,  and  it  was  regarded  as  a  legitimate 
exercise  of  the  royal  authority.     The  Parliament  of  Paris 

'  Journal  du  Parlement,  130-142.     This  course  was  advised  by  Chateau- 
neuf,  Mazarin  4  Tellier,  Aug.  2oih,  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  421 1. 
*  Journal  du  Parlement,  142-152. 


2o6      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

was  gratified  by  Mazarin's  retreat,  and  showed  no  resent- 
ment at  an  attempt  to  sweep  away  so  much  that  it  had 
enacted. 

The  forces  raised  by  Cond6  and  Orleans  had  been 
much  diminished,  but  they  now  received  liberal  reinforce- 
ments from  their  foreign  allies.  An  army  of  twelve  thou- 
sand men,  composed  partly  of  Spanish  troops  and  partly  of 
the  soldiers  of  Lorraine,  advanced  through  northern 
France  and  camped  near  Paris.  Mazarin  hoped  to  obtain 
Lorraine's  aid  for  the  king,  and  he  complained  of  the 
duke's  perfidy  when  he  advanced  into  France.'  The  car- 
dinal had  promised  Lorraine  to  obtain  for  him  permission 
to  make  a  plundering  excursion  into  France,  but  he  advised 
the  council  not  to  grant  it.  The  duke  in  turn  promised 
Mazarin  that  he  would  ally  himself  with  the  king,  but  had 
allied  himself  with  the  king's  enemies.' 

Turenne  had  only  about  eight  thousand  men,  and  he 
could  not  repel  considerably  larger  forces.  He  succeeded, 
however,  in  checking  them  somewhat  and  in  avoiding  a 
battle.  The  allies  might,  perhaps,  have  crushed  Tu- 
renne's  army,  but  Cond6  was  engaged  in  negotiating  with 
the  king,  and  he  finally  became  sick  and  had  to  leave 
the  field.  Lorraine  never  wished  to  expose  his  troops  to 
the  risk  of  battle,  and  the  Spanish  archduke  preferred 
keeping  the  most  of  his  army  to  assist  in  the  siege  of  Dun- 
kirk and  the  other  places  which  he  was  rapidly  capturing. 
The  armies  remained  for  some  weeks  near  Paris,  and  the 
devastations  they  committed  alienated  still  more  the 
former  supporters  of  the  princes.  Until  the  leaders  of 
the  Fronde  had  brought  the  soldiers  of  Lorraine  and  of 
the  archduke  to  their  assistance,  Paris  and  its  environs  had 
escaped  the  ravages  of  the  wars  with  Germany  and  Spain. 
The  country  about  Paris  was  rich  and  fertile  and  it  offered 
an  inviting  field  for  the  plunderers.  It  was  now  pillaged 
for  the  second  time  in  this  year.   The  zeal  of  the  burgesses 

'  Mazarin  4  Tellier,  Sept.  glh,  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  4211. 
'  These  negotiations  appear  in  the  letters  of  Mazarin  and  Le  Tellier  for  the 
latter  part  of  August  and  early  part  of  September,  Mss.,  4211,  4212. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  20/ 

and  peasants  to  drive  away  Mazarin  grew  faint,  when 
their  villas  were  burned  and  their  crops  cut  down  by  mer- 
cenaries who  claimed  they  had  come  to  Paris  on  that 
errand. 

In  the  meantime  the  endeavors  were  continued  to  pre- 
pare the  way  for  the  king's  return  to  Paris.  Negotiations 
were  carried  on  in  behalf  of  all  those  who  were  still  en- 
gaged in  hostilities,  but  more  attention  was  given  to  the 
people  than  the  princes.  It  had  long  been  attempted  to 
build  up  a  party  in  the  city,  which  should  be  active  in  the 
royal  service,  and  free  from  any  alliance  with  the  old  or 
the  new  Frondeurs.  The  progress  of  events,  and  the  evils 
produced  by  civil  wars  waged  without  justification,  were 
most  eflficacious  instruments  in  changing  the  tone  of  public 
feeling  at  Paris.  But  much  was  also  done  by  Mazarin's 
agents,  who,  in  various  secret  and  complicated  ways, 
endeavored  to  wean  the  public  mind  from  judges  like 
Broussel,  priests  like  Retz,  and  generals  like  Cond6. 
Much  of  this  work  was  done  by  the  clergy,  who  were 
Mazarin's  favorite  instruments  for  such  intrigues.  Money 
was  used  in  some  quarters  and  persuasion  in  others.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  these  agents  accomplished  by  their 
labors  as  much  as  they  thought  they  did.'  But  the  Fronde 
was  near  its  end,  and  when  the  public  feeling  inclined 
towards  a  restoration  of  tranquillity,  they  assisted  in  di- 
recting it. 

Retz  saw  that  the  times  had  changed,  and  he  endeavored 
to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  popular  movement  for  the 
return  of  the  king.  The  clergy  sent  a  delegation  to  assist 
in  restoring  peace  and  Retz  acted  as  their  spokesman. 
On  September  nth  he  made  a  formal  address,  and  he  also 
had  private  interviews  with  the  queen  and  with  Le  Tel- 
lier.     He  claimed  that  if  the  Parliament  could  be  restored 

'Accounts  of  these  intrigues  can  be  found  in  the  memoirs  of  Pire  Berthod 
and  the  Mss.  letters  of  the  Abbe  Fouquet  and  others  to  Mazarin  in  1652. 
These  accounts  are  usually  interesting,  and  often  valuable,  but  I  think  they 
should  be  read  with  caution.  Such  agents  exaggerate  the  sentiments  which 
they  desire  to  find,  Fouquet's  letters  are  the  most  trustworthy,  and  he  was 
a  man  of  much  ability  in  intrigue. 


208       FRANCE  UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

to  Paris  and  public  sentiment  gratified  in  that  respect,  he 
could  make  peace  in  eight  days,  and  Mazarin  could  re- 
turn in  eight  more.  Orleans  was  ready  to  make  terms, 
and  if  Cond^  refused,  he  could  be  forced  to  leave  Paris. 
Retz  talked  much  of  his  own  skill  in  the  management  of 
the  public,  and  of  the  great  influence  he  possessed  in  that 
city.  But  the  ministers  of  the  king  distrusted  his  fidelity, 
and  justly  believed  that  his  influence  had  much  diminished. 
He  was  treated  with  courtesy,  but  he  was  unable  either 
to  represent  the  king,  or  to  lead  the  people,  in  the  move- 
ment now  taking  place.' 

Many  other  veteran  intriguers  engaged  in  the  endeavors 
to  restore  tranquillity.  It  was  felt  that  those  who  at 
this  time  found  themselves  in  office  and  favor  might  ex- 
pect along  continuance,  and  that  those  who  were  ill  viewed 
at  the  Court  now  would  have  little  reason  to  anticipate  any 
change  for  the  better.  Chateauneuf  and  Chavigni  took 
an  active  part,  but  they  gained  nothing  for  themselves  or 
their  friends.  Chavigni  professed  to  represent  Cond^,  of 
whom  he  had  been  an  able  and  zealous  follower.  But  a 
letter  of  his  was  intercepted  in  which  he  seemed  to  show 
a  willingness  to  abandon  the  interests  of  his  patron. 
Condi's  violent  temper  was  excited,  and  he  reproached 
Chavigni  with  unbounded  virulence  and  ferocity.  This, 
and  other  mortifications,  affected  a  constitution  which 
may  have  been  already  impaired,  and  he  died  a  few  days 
after  his  interview  with  the  prince." 

Cond6  was  little  troubled  by  seeing  that  the  burgesses 
and  shop-keepers  were  becoming  weary  of  him.  He  was 
unfitted  to  deal  with  them,  and  was  perhaps  glad  to  be  re- 
lieved from  this  necessity,  even  at  the  cost  of  losing  Paris. 
But  he  believed  that,  with  the  aid  of  the  Spanish,  he 
should  still  be  considerably  superior  in  military  strength 
to  the  armies  of  the  king,  and  he  demanded  exorbitant 

'  Tellieri  Mazarin,  Sept.  14th.  Mjs.  Bib.  Nat.,  4212.,  76-79.  An  enter- 
taining, but  not  entirely  accurate  account  of  his  mission,  is  given  by  Retz  him- 
self, iv.,  77-101. 

'  He  was  only  forty-four,  and  he  had  eighteen  children.  Lettres  i  Lenet, , 
Oct.  nth. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  209 

terms  of  peace."  Marchin  must  be  made  a  marshal  for  be- 
traying Catalonia  to  the  Spanish,  and  Daugnon  a  marshal 
for  trying  to  betray  La  Rochelle.  Cond^  himself  wished 
to  have  troops  under  his  independent  command,  to  remain 
for  a  while  the  ally  of  Spain,  and  ultimately  to  be  charged 
with  making  peace  with  that  country.  Though  such  con- 
ditions were  absurd,  Mazarin  thought  it  might  be  best  to 
grant  reasonable  terms.  The  king  could  not  contend 
against  so  powerful  enemies  as  Spain,  Lorraine,  and 
Cond6,  and  if  an  accommodation  with  the  prince  could 
be  made,  the  minister  advised  such  a  measure.' 

But  he  was  dissuaded  by  some  of  his  assistants.  Ser- 
vien  had  been  reconciled  with  Mazarin  and  was  again  in 
office.  He  protested  against  the  policy  of  giving  rewards 
for  insubordination  and  treason.  Cond^,  he  said,  was 
only  acting  in  bad  faith  and  to  gain  time,  and  it  was 
useless  to  endeavor  to  make  terms  with  one  so  violent, 
false,  and  ambitious.'  Paris  was  weary  of  war  and  irritated 
against  the  princes.  It  desired  only  the  advantages  that 
would  come  from  the  presence  of  its  sovereign.*  Twice 
he  had  returned  to  the  capital  of  his  kingdom  after 
treaties  and  concessions,  but  only  to  find  new  turbulence. 
It  was  now  time  that  the  king  should  return,  not  as  the 
result  of  negotiations,  but  freely  and  without  conditions, 
recalled  by  the  desire  of  the  people. 

The  action  of  the  king  in  refusing  to  receive  delegates 
from  the  princes  had  a  wholesome  effect,  and  it  was 
specially  efficacious  upon  Orleans*  timidity.  The  duke 
soon  reached  the  condition  where  he  was  ready  to  abandon 
Cond6,  and  desired  peace  on  any  terms."  In  Septem- 
ber the  Hotel  de  Ville  sent  delegates  to  the  king,  but 
those  also  he  refused  to  receive.  The  city,  he  told 
them,  after  the  massacres   of   July,  had  illegally  chosen 

*  Conde  4  Lenet,  Sept.  22d.  "  Tout  est  en  si  bon  estat,  que  nous  pourrions 
tout  ce  que  nous  voudrions." 

•Mazarin  i  Tcllier,  Mss.  4211.,  180.     Letter  of  Sept.  19th. 

*  Servien  i  Mazarin,  Oct.  2d. 

*  Ibid.     Sept.  9th,  Mss.  421 1.,  133. 

*  Tellier  <i  Mazarin,  Oct.  4th,  Mss.  4212. 


2IO      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Broussel  for  the  provost  of  merchants,  and  Beaufort  was 
acting  as  its  governor  without  authority  from  the  king. 
While  they  continued  at  the  head  of  the  city  government, 
the  king  could  not  regard  any  delegates  chosen  at  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  as  representatives  of  the  people  of  Paris.' 

But  private  bodies  sent  supplications  to  Compi^gne, 
asking  for  the  speedy  return  of  the  king,  and  all  such 
were  well  received.  The  six  companies  of  merchants  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  the  clergy,  and  expressed  their 
desire  for  an  entire  restoration  of  harmony  between  his 
majesty  and  his  subjects  of  Paris."  On  September  24th  a 
public  meeting  was  called  to  favor  the  unconditional  re- 
turn of  the  king.  About  four  thousand  met  and  passed 
resolutions  demanding  peace  with  the  king,  the  retreat  of 
the  foreign  troops,  and  the  resignation  of  the  illegally 
chosen  officials.  The  city  was  still  under  the  control  of 
the  princes,  and  they  prevented  further  meetings  of  the 
sort,  but  the  effect  of  this  was  not  inconsiderable,'  Brous- 
sel tendered  his  resignation  as  provost  of  the  merchants, 
and  Orleans  gave  passports  to  the  delegates  whom  the  mer- 
chants wished  to  send  to  the  king.  He  himself  was  weary 
of  war,  alarmed  at  everj'  disturbance,  and  apprehensive  of 
being  deserted  both  by  Paris  and  the  prince.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  the  city  was  returning  to  the  service  of  the  king, 
and  the  leaders  quarrelled  about  the  responsibility  for  the 
loss.  Orleans  told  the  prince  that  he  had  given  him  Paris, 
and  Cond^  replied  that  he  gave  him  twelve  thousand  men 
with  which  to  hold  it.^ 

The  plundering  by  Lorraine's  soldiers  created  such 
hatred  in  the  city,  that  even  that  freebooter  began  to 
find   his   position    uncomfortable.     On   October  nth  he 

■  Registres  de  1' Hotel  de  Ville,  iii.,  237-264. 

*  This  was  after  the  meeting  of  September  24th. 

*  This  meeting  is  described  in  the  correspondence  of  Mazarin's  agents,  and 
by  the  adherents  of  the  princes,  with  considerable  discrepancy.  There  is 
no  doubt  as  to  the  results  which  followed.  The  Venetian  ambassador  wrote 
it  was  dispersed  by  military  force. — cxv.,  52. 

*  Lettre  de  Martigny  4  Lenet,  Sept.  25th.  Letlre  de  Rochefoucauld  i 
Lenet.     Mem.  de  Berthod.     Lettres  de  Tellier  i  Mazarin,  Sept. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  211 

was  pursued  by  an  angry  crowd,  who  declared  they 
would  hold  him  a  prisoner  until  he  gave  satisfaction  for 
the  pillage  that  had  been  committed  by  his  soldiers.  He 
made  his  escape,  but  he  did  not  desire  to  return  again  to 
Paris,  and  he  obtained  a  treaty  from  the  king  allowing 
him  to  lead  his  army  from  France  without  being  attacked.' 

Beaufort  tried  in  vain  to  keep  the  people  zealous,  by  talk- 
ing of  that  long-established  union  between  the  Parliament 
and  the  princes,  which  alone  could  bring  a  secure  and  hon- 
orable peace.'  The  time  for  such  appeals  was  past.  The 
Hotel  de  Ville  and  the  Parliament  united  in  asking 
Orleans  to  remove  the  foreign  mercenaries  who  were  de- 
vouring the  land.  Cond6  was  unable  to  accomplish  any 
thing  against  the  popular  sentiment.  Paris  was  weary  of 
his  violence,  and  he  in  turn  was  weary  of  Paris.  He  did 
not  wish  to  return  to  Guienne,  where  he  would  also  have 
to  meet  the  complaints  and  uncertainties  of  city  officers 
and  organizations.  The  life  of  a  princely  highwayman 
like  Lorraine  was  congenial  to  his  tastes,  and  unless  he 
could  have  an  authority  in  France  like  that  of  a  general  in 
a  camp,  he  was  eager  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  injure  his 
fatherland. 

On  October  13th  Lorraine  and  Cond6  led  away  their 
troops  and  marched  towards  Liege  and  Stenai.'  For 
seven  years  Cond6  commanded  Spanish  armies  against  his 
countrymen. 

The  retreat  of  these  armies  left  the  way  open  for  the 
return  of  the  king,  but  it  was  desired  that  other  leaders 
of  the  Fronde  should  leave  Paris,  to  ensure  its  tranquillity. 
Mazarin  wrote  that  the  king  could  not  be  safe  in  the  cap- 
ital until  Orleans,  Retz,  and  Beaufort  were  out  of  it,  and  that 
the  unruly  members  of  the  Parliament  must  also  be  expel- 
led.* Orleans  became  constantly  more  terrified.  He  was 
urged  by  Chateauneuf  and  Retz  to  excite  the  people,  and 

'  Aff.  Eti.  Fr.,  885,  47. 

*  Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.,  66,  67. 

*  Muse  Historique,  Oct.  19th.  Tellier  4  Mazarin,  Oct.  13th.  Lettres  de 
Paris,  Oct.  i8th,  published  by  M.  Cousin. 

*  Mazarin  i  Tellier,  Mss.  421 1..  113.  114  ;  4  Fouquet,  23,202,  Oct.  I2th. 


212       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

erect  new  barricades  against  the  entry  of  the  king.  But  he 
feared  such  dangerous  counsels,  and  he  agreed  to  leave  the 
city,  and  make  no  opposition  to  the  restoration  of  the  royal 
authority.'  Beaufort  obtained  the  promise  of  i(X),ooo 
livres,  and,  on  October  14th,  he  resigned  his  position  as 
governor  of  Paris.  Mazarin  would  have  been  glad  to  have 
accompanied  the  king  on  his  triumphal  entry  into  the 
stronghold  of  the  Fronde,  but  it  was  thought  best  to 
improve  the  favorable  condition  of  public  feeling,  with- 
out waiting  for  his  return.  The  cardinal  wrote,  that  if 
the  king  could  enter  Paris  and  be  again  established  at  his 
capital  in  tranquillity  and  the  full  possession  of  his  author- 
ity, he  wished  no  delay  from  any  regard  for  his  personal 
interests."  Orleans  had  as  yet  received  no  assurance  of 
the  terms  on  which  he  could  retire,  and,  on  the  19th,  he 
sent  word  to  the  city  officers  that  unless  those  were  agreed 
on,  he  would  resort  to  any  measures.  But  no  one  heeded 
his  threats.  On  the  21st  the  king  slowly  proceeded  tow- 
ards the  city  from  Saint  Germain,  accompanied  by  Tu- 
renne's  soldiers  and  met  by  great  bodies  of  citizens  and 
officials.  It  was  dark  before  they  reached  Paris,  and  the 
procession  marched  by  the  light  of  torches  through  the 
Cours  de  la  Reine  and  the  gardens  of  Renard,  and  Louis 
XIV.  slept  that  night  in  the  palace  of  the  Louvre.  Though 
he  was  received  with  applause  and  with  no  attempt  at  dis- 
turbance, strong  guards  were  stationed  about  the  Louvre, 
and  soldiers  were  encamped  near  the  city.* 

The  king  had  returned  amid  acclamation,  and  it  was 
resolved  that  he  should  reign  with  authority.  The  Duke 
of  Orleans  was  ordered  .to  leave  the  city  at  once,  and  it 
was  decided  to  arrest  him  if  he  refused.  He  asked  to  be 
allowed  to  stay  until  the  morning,  and  his  request  was 
granted.  At  five  o'clock  on  the  22d  he  left  Paris,  accom- 
panied by  Beaufort  and  Chabot  Rohan,  and  retired  to  Li- 

'  Tellier  i  Mazarin,  Mss.  4212.,  189-199,  et pas. 

'Mazarin  k  Tellier,  Oct.,  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  6890;  k  Fouquet,  Mss.  23,- 
202.     Servien  i  Mazarin,  Oct.  12th,  etc. 

•  Tellier  ^  Mazarin,  Oct.  20th  and  22d,  Mss.  4212.  Mem.  de  York,  556, 
557,     Berthod,  598-599- 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  21 3 

mours.'  The  political  role  of  all  three  was  ended.  Terms 
were  granted  Orleans  by  which  he  agreed  to  disband  the 
troops  levied  in  his  name.  He  was  allowed  to  enjoy  his 
appanage  and  his  wealth,  and  he  retired  to  the  quiet  city 
of  Blois.  He  died  in  1660,  but  after  his  departure  from 
Paris  he  had  no  political  influence,  and  he  spent  his  days 
in  the  indolent  luxury  of  a  royal  prince.  He  ended  his 
career,  appropriately,  by  disclosing  to  Le  Tellier  the  vio- 
lent measures  to  which  he  had  been  urged  by  his  asso- 
ciates, and  by  becoming  a  witness  against  his  friends.'  For 
over  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  rank  and  the  restless  dis- 
position of  Gaston  of  Orleans  had  made  him  the  centre  of 
the  intrigues  and  insurrections  against  the  royal  authority, 
and  against  the  two  cardinals  by  whom  it  was  successively 
administered.  His  career  had  been  a  record  of  cowardice, 
vacillation,  and  treachery;  he  had  never  kept  his  word, 
and  he  had  always  betrayed  his  friends.  He  crowned  the 
failures  of  his  life,  by  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  destroy 
the  beauty  of  the  chateau  of  Blois.  Retz  claims  he  had 
prophesied  to  Orleans  that  the  result  of  their  intrigues 
might  be,  that  the  duke  would  find  himself  a  royal  prince 
retired  to  Blois,  and  that  Retz  would  be  a  cardinal  im- 
prisoned at  Vincennes.  Part  of  this  prediction  was  now 
fulfilled,  and  the  rest  was  soon  verified. 

Mademoiselle  of  Orleans  was  also  ordered  to  leave 
Paris.  She  had  reproached  her  father  for  his  resolution 
to  abandon  the  cause  of  Cond^,  and  submit  himself  to 
Mazarin.  When  they  sold  lanterns  "  ^  la  royale  "  to  cele- 
brate the  king's  return,  she  said  she  wanted  to  buy  lan- 
terns "  k  la  Fronde."  If  the  others  left  Paris,  she  would 
stay  there  with  only  her  fcmmes  de  chambrc,  and  brave 
the  king.  Her  father  told  her  it  was  time  to  aban- 
don the  role  of  a  heroine,  but  she  replied  that  her 
ancestry  was  such,  that  she  could  do  nothing  except  what 
was  elevated  and  great.     But  she  was  obliged  at  last  to 

'  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  4212.,  190,  191. 

*  Tellier  i  Mazarin,  Oct.  30th.     The  details  of  Orleans'  negotiations  and 
treaties  are  found  in  Mss.  4212.,  332,  et  seq. 


214       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

yield,  and  leave  Paris,  and  she  ended  her  political  career, 
courageous  and  absurd  to  the  last.' 

Another  leader  of  the  Fronde  soon  followed.  On  No- 
vember 1 8th  Chateauneuf  was  ordered  to  retire  to  Berri, 
and  there  he  died  during  the  next  year."  The  duchesses 
of  Montbazon  and  Chatillon  were  also  compelled  to  leave 
Paris. 

But  the  treatment  of  the  Parliament  presented  a  ques- 
tion of  much  more  importance  for  the  country,  than  end- 
ing the  career  of  some  unscrupulous  politicians,  and  of 
some  dissolute  women.  The  Parliament  of  Pontoise  was 
recalled  to  Paris,  and  on  the  morning  of  October  22d  Louis 
held  a  bed  of  justice  at  the  Louvre  A  number  of  royal 
declarations  were  read,  affecting  the  present  condition  of 
affairs,  and  the  future  organization  of  the  body.  A  free 
amnesty  was  again  granted  to  all  those  who,  within  three 
days,  should  submit  to  the  king  and  renounce  all  alli- 
ances with  the  enemies  of  the  state.  The  Parliament 
was  formally  transferred  to  Paris,  but  the  authority  was 
recognized  of  those  who  had  attended  at  Pontoise,  in 
conformity  with  the  order  of  the  king.  All  acts  of 
those  who  had  remained  at  Paris  were  declared  to  be 
void.  The  Parliament  was  ordered  in  the  future  to  as- 
sume no  control  over  the  general  matters  of  the  state, 
and  to  attempt  no  direction  of  the  public  finances.  It 
was  to  be  simply  a  court,  for  the  decision  of  lawsuits.  As 
its  members  had  often  been  led  into  evil  courses  by  the 
influence  of  others,  they  were  forbidden  to  hold  any 
ofifice  or  receive  any  pension  from  princes  or  noblemen. 
Finally,  Beaufort  together  with  Broussel  and  nine  other 
members  of  the  Parliament  were  banished  from  the  city.* 

The  king  had  before  endeavored  to  prevent  the  Parlia- 
ment's becoming  a  political  body,  and  exercising  a  restraint 
upon  his  authority.  But  the  edict  that  was  now  regis- 
tered, was  to  be  enforced.    It  was  just  four  years  since  the 

*  Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.,  75-80.     Mss.  4212.,  191.  Mem.  de  Montpensier,  144-Q. 

*  Tellier  4  Mazarin,  Nov.  i8th. 

*  Journal  du  Parlement,  1652,  235-252. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  21 5 

edict  of  October,  1648,  had  seemed  to  recognize  in  the 
Parliament  of  Paris  a  political  authority  embarrassing  to 
the  king  and  important  to  the  state.  The  manner  in 
which  the  judges  sought  to  preserve  and  to  exercise 
that  authority,  prevents  any  regret  that  the  king  was  at 
last  successful  in  his  efforts  to  overthrow  it.  The  reforma- 
tion of  the  government  of  France  could  not  have  been 
effected  by  making  a  legislature  of  a  court.  Such  an 
endeavor  was  now  abandoned,  and  the  edict  of  October 
22,  1652,  may  be  regarded  as  the  end  of  the  Parliamentary 
Fronde.  A  few  months  more  were  employed  in  over- 
coming the  resistance  of  Condi's  followers,  and  in  quiet- 
ing the  troubles  of  Guienne. 

There  were  members  of  the  Parliament  who  were 
offended  by  these  edicts,  and  would  have  been  glad 
to  have  resisted  them,  but  it  was  impossible  to  make 
any  effective  opposition,  either  in  or  out  of  the  body. 
Those  who  had  been  most  active  in  such  matters  were 
now  exiled,  and  no  barricades  were  raised  in  behalf  of 
Broussel,  when  he  was  a  second  time  attacked  by  the 
royal  authority.  He  had  allowed  himself  to  be  so  far 
involved  in  the  violence  and  massacre  of  the  summer,, 
that  he  had  lost  the  popular  veneration  which  alone  made 
him  of  importance.  Some  of  the  judges  had  been  secured 
in  the  interests  of  the  government  by  pensions  and  favors,^ 
many  had  long  been  weary  of  the  violent  courses  into 
which  their  body  had  been  led,  and  those  who  still  de- 
sired to  be  unruly  dared  not  oppose  the  order  of  the  king.' 

The  Bastille  was  still  under  the  command  of  Broussel's 
son.  Its  surrender  was  at  once  demanded,  but  he  re- 
plied that  he  held  it  under  the  authority  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  and  he  could  yield  it  only  by  his  order.  He  was 
told  that  he  must  surrender  it  to  his  king,  or  it  would  be 
bombarded  forthwith.  He  consented  to  give  possession 
to  the  king,  but  he  obtained  40,000  livres  as  compensa- 
tion for  resigning  his  office  as  governor.* 

One  formidable  leader  of  the  Fronde  remained  at  Paris, 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.,  75.  *  Mss.  4212.,  190. 


2l6      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

and  though  his  power  was  much  reduced,  he  still  excited 
apprehension  among  his  former  opponents.  The  Cardinal 
Retz  had  endeavored  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  popu- 
lar demonstrations  for  the  king's  return,  but  with  little 
success.  He  asked  Turenne  to  assure  Mazarin  of  his 
good-will,  and  to  suggest  a  marriage  of  his  nephew  with 
the  minister's  niece.  The  cautious  general  declined  to  do 
any  thing  more  than  simply  convey  the  message,  and 
Mazarin  replied  there  was  reason  to  believe  that  Retz's 
promises  to  aid  only  came  from  his  inability  to  harm ; ' 
tranquillity  and  obedience  to  the  king  could  not  be  as- 
sured while  Retz  remained  in  Paris.'  Servian  and  Le  Tel- 
lier  were  equally  distrustful  of  the  cardinal's  turbulence. 
Retz  himself  was  annoyed  that  he  had  not  played  a  more 
active  part  in  the  late  events,  and  he  pursued  a  vacillating 
course.  He  was  quite  willing  to  have  the  favor  of  the 
Court,  but  he  found  it  difificult  to  abandon  the  endeav- 
ors to  excite  popular  disturbances,  which  had  so  long 
been  his  employment  and  his  pleasure.  He  coquetted 
with  Cond^  and  excited  mistrust  by  such  advances.' 

He  was  offered  a  retreat  that  would  have  been  honor- 
able and  agreeable.  The  Court  was  willing  to  send  him 
as  its  representative  to  Rome.^  Mazarin  had  declined 
such  a  suggestion  for  himself  when  it  was  made  a  year 
before,  but  Mazarin  had  actually  held  the  power  which 
Retz  had  only  anticipated  holding.  Retz's  talents  would 
be  valuable  to  his  government  at  Rome,  and  he  could  exer- 
cise a  great  influence  in  the  intrigues  of  the  papal  curia. 
The  prospect  was  not  distasteful  to  him,  but  he  delayed  in 
making  the  agreement  to  accept  this  position  and  leave 
Paris.  He  was  embarrassed  by  the  enormous  debts  he 
had  incurred,  he  desired  to  obtain  favors  for  some  of  his 
friends,  and  he  still  overestimated  the  power  which  he 
held  in  the  city,  and  the  terms  which  he  could  compel  the 

'  "  II  y  i  grande  apparence  qu'  elles  ne  proviennent  que  de  I'impuissance 
de  continuer  i  mal  faire."  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  4211.,  410.  Mem.  de  Turenne, 
449,  450.  '  Mazarin  4  Fouquet,  Oct.  26th.     Mss.  23,202. 

*  Lenet  4  Conde,  Dec,  12th.     Mazarin  a  Fouquet,  Dec.  17th. 

*  Ibid.,  Joly,  82. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  21/ 

government  to  grant.  His  position  as  a  cardinal,  and  the 
great  influence  which  he  had  possessed  among  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Paris  would,  he  beheved,  prevent  the  king  from 
attempting  his  arrest. 

But  the  ministers  resolved  that  Retz  should  be  arrested, 
and  Mazarin  approved  their  decision.'  Retz  had  discon- 
tinued his  visits  to  the  Louvre,  and  it  was  difficult  to  find 
an  opportunity  to  take  him  into  custody.  His  residence 
in  the  cloisters  of  the  archbishop's  palace  he  had  made 
almost  a  fortress,  and  from  there  he  could  easily  escape 
into  Notre  Dame.  The  king  ordered  him  to  be  taken  dead 
or  alive,  but  it  was  not  desirable  that  a  cardinal  of  the 
church  should  be  torn  by  violence  from  the  altar  of  his 
cathedral.  But  he  delivered  himself  into  the  hands  of  his 
enemies.  Acting  under  the  treacherous  counsel,  it  is  said, 
of  some  female  adviser,  on  December  19th  he  again  visited 
the  Louvre,  in  order  to  dispel  the  mistrust  excited  by  his 
absence.  The  news  was  brought  that  Retz  would  soon 
be  there,  and  preparations  were  hastily  made  for  his  arrest. 
The  king  greeted  him  with  the  affability  that  so  often 
beguiled  those  who  had  been  selected  for  punishment. 
Louis  presently  retired  to  hear  mass,  and  the  cardinal 
offered  to  help  in  its  celebration.  Apprehensive,  how- 
ever, of  some  preparations  that  he  noticed,  he  decided  to 
retire,  but  as  he  reached  the  ante-chamber  he  was  at  once 
arrested.  He  was  taken  to  the  prison  of  Vincennes  and 
kept  in  close  confinement  for  fifteen  months,  and  was 
then  transferred  to  Nantes,  where  he  remained  until  his 
escape.  He  complained  that  his  person  was  searched, 
but  nothing  more  important  was  found  than  part  of  his 
sermon  for  the  next  Sunday.* 

No  public  agitation  followed  the  arrest  of  the  coadjutor 
of  Paris.     In  acquiring  the  dignity  of  a  cardinal  he  had 

•  Le  Tellier  k  Mazarin,  Nov.  26th,  Dec.  ist,  Mss.  4212.  Mazarin  i  Le 
Tellier,  Dec.  3,  S,  etc.,  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  4211  and  6891.  Mazarin  i  Fou- 
quet,  Dec.  2d,  Mss.  23,202. 

'  Le  Tellier  ^  Mazarin,  Dec.  i8th  and  20th.  Paulin  i  Mazarin,  Dec. 
25th.  Letters  de  Colbert,  1,403.  M^m.  de  Retz,  iv.,  156  et  seq.  Joly, 
81-5. 


21 8       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

lost  his  hold  on  the  populace.'  But  his  position  in  the 
church  led  the  clergy  to  make  some  exertions  in  his  be- 
half. Mazarin,  himself,  felt  that  it  was  embarrassing  to  have 
it  announced  that  one  cardinal  had  been  arrested  by  the 
order  of  another.  He  had  indeed  advised  the  policy  which 
the  government  had  pursued ;  the  leaders,  he  had  said,. 
must  be  expelled  ;  only  by  vigor  and  firmness  could  the 
authority  of  the  king  and  the  happiness  of  his  subjects  be 
assured."  He  had  expressly  approved  the  arrest  of  Retz, 
though  he  affected  to  regret  that  the  advisers  of  the  king 
should  have  felt  constrained  to  such  an  act.' 

But  Mazarin  was  desirous  that  these  acts  of  severity 
should  seem  to  proceed  from  the  government  while  he 
was  absent,  and  that  his  own  return  should  be  associated 
with  a  renewed  era  of  mildness.  He  was  exceedingly 
anxious  to  overcome  the  personal  hostility  to  which  he 
had  so  long  been  subject,  and  he  wrote  his  agents  at 
Paris  to  use  every  effort  to  inspire  the  inhabitants  with 
favorable  sentiments  towards  himself.*  He  now  sent  a 
letter  to  the  king  asking  the  release  of  his  brother  cardi- 
nal. This  was  published,  together  with  Louis'  answer, 
showing  why  the  interests  of  the  state  required  his  im- 
prisonment. But  it  was  easy  to  see  that  one  man  was 
playing  all  the  parts  in  the  comedy.'  The  cur^s  of 
Paris  and  the  chapter  of  Notre  Dame  presented  their 
petitions  for  Retz's  release.  He  was  their  religious  supe- 
rior, and  he  was  also  popular  among  them.  They  were 
incited  both  by  their  zeal  for  the  privileges  of  the  church, 
and  by  their  affection  for  their  pastor.  For  forty  hours 
prayers  were  said  for  the  liberty  of  Cardinal  Retz,  and 
some  even  wished  to  close  Notre  Dame  and  the  churches 
of  Paris.  But  Retz's  uncle,  the  archbishop,  had  been 
jealous  of  his  nephew,  and  he  showed  little  zeal  in  his 
behalf.     He  presented  the  petitions  of  the  clergy  to  the 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.,  113. 

'  Mazarin  i  Fouquet,  Oct.  25th.     Mss.  23,202,  cipher. 
•  Letter  of  Dec.  23d,  etc.      *  Mazarin  4  Fouquet,  passim.   Mss.  23,202. 
'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.,  120.     "  Comedia,  nella  quella  il  Cardinale  fa  tutti  le 
parti." 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  2I9 

Court  in  a  very  apologetic  manner,  and  refused  to  allow 
Notre  Dame  to  be  closed.  Cond6  offered  his  services  to 
Retz,  and  an  effort  was  made  to  combine  their  friends 
in  some  action  against  the  government.  Few  however 
were  disposed  to  undertake  any  thing  more  than  polite 
petitions  for  the  cardinal's  release.  One  or  two  priests,, 
who  made  themselves  conspicuous  by  the  fervency  of 
their  prayers  that  Retz  might  be  delivered  from  the  hands 
of  his  enemies,  were  arrested,  and  it  began  to  be  said 
that  Mazarin  had  decided  to  imitate  Richelieu,  and  adopt 
a  policy  of  rigor  instead  of  mildness.'  Innocent  X.  sent  a 
legate  to  demand  that  the  cardinal  should  be  released,  or 
be  turned  over  to  the  officers  of  the  church,  to  consider  any 
charges  that  were  made  against  him.  The  French  govern- 
ment refused  to  entertain  this  request.  The  king,  it  was- 
said,  had  the  right  to  proceed  against  cardinals  who  were 
French  subjects,  if  they  had  committed  any  offence  against 
the  state.  He  could  not  recognize  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Pope,  even  to  present  remonstrances  on  such  a  matter. 
The  envoy  was  reminded,  also,  that  while  the  Holy  Father 
now  professed  a  special  interest  in  any  wrong  committed 
upon  one  of  his  cardinals,  he  had  been  entirely  undisturbed 
when  the  Parliament  of  Paris  had  offered  150,000  livres  for 
the  head  of  Cardinal  Mazarin.*  Retz  remained  in  prison,^ 
complaining  of  the  treatment  he  received,  and  disturbed 
by  the  fear  that  his  enemies  might  quietly  dispose  of  him. 
Secret  murder  was  not  an  unknown  device  among  Italian 
politicians,  but  it  was  never  resorted  to  by  Mazarin. 

There  now  seemed  no  reason  why  the  minister  should 
not  return  to  Paris.  The  Parliament  was  quiet.  Cond6 
and  Orleans  had  been  driven  from  the  city.  Retz  was  in 
prison.  On  October  26th,  immediately  after  the  king  had 
made  his  entry,  he  sent  a  letter  to  Mazarin  saying  that 
his  rebellious  subjects  still  continued  in  arms,  though  they 
had  claimed  that  the  cardinal's  departure  was  all  that  they 
desired,  and  there  was  no  reason  why  he  should  not 
return,  and  the  crown  again  enjoy  his  assistance  and  good 

•  Ibid.,  120.     Joly,  85-90.  *  Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.,  163-6.    Retz  iv.,  181.^ 


220       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

counsel.'  His  friends  told  him  that  he  could  come  to 
Paris  in  entire  safety.  Rooms  were  prepared  for  his 
accommodation."  The  queen  sent  word  that  she  was  dying 
of  impatience  for  his  return.  But  Mazarin  showed  no 
haste.  He  was  willing  that  more  time  should  be  given  to 
judicious  endeavors  to  turn  the  Parisians  from  the  per- 
sonal hostility,  which  they  had  for  so  many  years  cher- 
ished against  him.  He  was  willing  to  remain  absent, 
while  the  king  was  occupied  in  exiling  nobles  and  judges, 
imprisoning  cardinals,  and  curtailing  the  power  of  the  Par- 
liament. 

Important  matters  demanded  his  care,  and  he  wished 
to  give  his  personal  attention  to  resisting  the  arms  of 
Cond^  and  the  Spanish,  and  regaining  some  part  of  the 
great  losses  which  France  had  suffered  during  the  year. 
Though  the  success  of  the  French  armies  was  often 
affected  by  the  ineflficiency  of  commanders,  and  by  the 
financial  disorders  of  the  country,  the  wars  under  Riche- 
lieu and  Mazarin  had  shown  how  far  superior  France  was 
to  the  disunited  government  of  Germany  and  the  decayed 
government  of  Spain.  Richelieu  had  met  with  moderate 
success  when  he  first  became  involved  in  wars  in  Germany 
and  with  Spain,  but  the  end  of  his  administration  saw  the 
arms  of  France  victorious  in  every  quarter.  The  first  five 
years  of  Mazarin's  administration  had  been  still  more 
brilliant,  and  such  successes  had  obtained  the  Peace  of 
Westphalia.  The  war  with  Spain  continued,  but  the 
campaign  of  1648  showed  that  France  single-handed  was 
more  than  a  match  for  her  antagonist.  But  in  that  year 
internal  agitations  began  to  weaken  the  country.  The 
finances  were  soon  in  a  state  more  deplorable  than  their 
usual  bad  condition.  In  many  provinces  the  collection  of 
taxes  was  paralyzed.  The  few  soldiers  who  could  be  paid 
and  fed  had  to  be  employed  against  armies  of  Frenchmen, 
instead  of  against  the  armies  of  Spain.     Notwithstanding 

•  Mss.  6892,  Bib.  Nat. 

»  LeUres  de  Colbert,  t.   i,  Nov.   ist.     Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  885,  p.  127.     Dis. 
Ven.,  cxv.,  81. 


THE   CLOSE   OE  THE  FRONDE.  221 

these  misfortunes,  though  France  gained  nothing  in  1649, 
she  lost  but  little.  Ypres,  however,  was  taken  by  the 
Spanish.  Mazarin  failed  in  his  attempt  to  capture  Cam- 
brai,  and  this  disaster  was  viewed  with  satisfaction  by  innu- 
merable Frenchmen.  In  the  next  year,  1650,  the  followers 
of  Cond6  were  in  active  revolt  in  many  provinces.  They 
at  once  sought  Spain  as  an  ally,  which  the  Parliamentary 
Fronde  had  refused  to  do.  The  nobles,  less  patriotic  than 
the  judges,  called  the  Spanish  to  the  invasion  of  France, 
and,  under  the  leadership  of  French  generals,  foreign  troops 
laid  waste  Champagne  and  Picardy,  and  penetrated  almost 
to  the  gates  of  Paris.  While  Mazarin  was  endeavoring  to 
overcome  the  resistance  of  Bouillon  and  Rochefoucauld 
in  Guienne,  Piombino  and  Porto  Longone  were  lost  to 
France.  In  Catalonia  the  influence  of  that  kingdom  was 
fast  being  destroyed,  and  Mazarin  tried  in  vain  to  send 
additional  troops  and  money  for  its  protection.  The 
people,  however,  still  remained  attached  to  the  country  of 
their  adoption,  and  they  succeeded  in  preventing  their 
reconquest  by  Spain.  After  peace  had  been  restored  in 
Guienne,  Mazarin  went  to  Champagne,  and  the  victory  of 
Rethel  rescued  that  province  from  the  ravages  of  foreign 
troops.  That  victory  had  been  followed  by  the  cardinal's 
overthrow. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  Fronde,  France  had  ceased 
to  hope  for  any  advantage  in  the  war.  The  best  that 
could  happen  was  that  she  should  lose  little.  During  the 
early  part  of  165 1  Cond^  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
Spanish  with  negotiations  for  a  new  alliance  against  his 
country,  and  in  October  he  was  again  in  revolt.  The 
archduke  contented  himself  with  recapturing  Furnes  and 
some  places  in  Flanders,  but  the  treason  of  Marchin  left 
Catalonia  in  a  still  more  critical  position.  In  1652  both 
Orleans  and  Cond6  had  armies  engaged  against  the  gov- 
ernment, and  the  Spanish  sent  troops  to  their  assistance. 
Guienne  was  in  revolt  and  Provence  was  much  disturbed 
by  internal  dissensions.  Paris  was  in  the  hands  of  the  in- 
surgents, and   its  inhabitants  were  paying  taxes   to  the 


222       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

princes  instead  of  to  the  king.  The  year  was  one  of 
disaster  in  every  section  where  the  war  waged.  The  Vene- 
tian minister  wrote  that  former  years  had  been  filled  with 
constant  victories  for  France,  but  now  every  week  brought 
the  news  of  some  loss.'  There  were  no  important  defeats 
in  the  field,  for  the  French  had  no  armies  with  which  to 
fight,  but  Spain  regained  what  had  been  taken  from  her 
by  years  of  costly  and  bloody  warfare. 

The  troops  of  Lorraine  and  of  the  Spanish  general 
Fuensaldana  ravaged  Picardy  and  the  country  about 
Paris,  but  the  archduke  preferred  using  most  of  his 
soldiers,  in  retaking  from  the  French  their  important  con- 
quests in  the  Low  Countries.  In  May  the  Spanish 
attacked  Gravelines,  which  had  been  taken  from  them 
in  1644,  after  a  siege  of  two  months.  Its  garrison  was 
small  and  in  no  condition  to  make  a  successful  resistance, 
and  on  May  i8th  the  place  surrendered."  It  was  a  severe 
blow  to  Mazarin,  but  while  the  armies  of  the  king  were 
inferior  in  numbers  to  those  of  the  rebels  against  his 
authority,  no  aid  could  be  given  to  the  places  attacked  by 
the  Spanish.  The  cardinal  tried  to  obtain  the  assistance 
of  England  and  made  the  most  liberal  offers,  but  Crom- 
well was  still  coquetting  between  Spain  and  France,  and 
he  would  not  make  a  treaty  of  alliance. 

The  archduke  resolved  to  attempt  a  still  more  import- 
ant conquest.  He  blockaded  Dunkirk,  and  in  August  he 
began  a  regular  siege  of  the  place.  The  only  way  in  which 
supplies  and  reinforcements  could  be  introduced  into  the 
town  was  by  water.  The  Duke  of  Vendome  was  ordered 
to  bring  some  vessels  from  La  Rochelle,  but  he  was  met 
by  the  Spanish  ships  and  those  of  Condi's  ally  the  Count 
of  Daugnon.  After  an  encounter,  he  was  obliged  to  put 
back,  and  he  could  get  no  money  with  which  to  repair  his 
ships  or  obtain  further  supplies.*  Orders  were  then 
given  to  collect  all  the  barks  and  vessels  that  could  be 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.,  77.     Montglat,  279. 

•  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  183,  210.  "  L'awiso  ha  colpito  il  Cardinale  nel  piu 
vivo."  •  Le  Tellier  i  Mazarin,  Aug.  23,  1652,  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  4212. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  223 

found  at  Calais  and  Boulogne,  and  attempt  the  relief  of 
Dunkirk.  On  September  14th,  seven  vessels  and  some  fire 
ships  set  sail.  The  Spanish  ships  were  under  the  Mar- 
quis of  Leyde,  who  was  eager  to  conquer  the  place  which 
he  had  been  obliged  to  surrender  six  years  before,  but  he 
was  saved  the  necessity  of  opposing  the  entrance  of  these 
reinforcements.  The  English  claimed  that  some  of  their 
merchant-ships  had  suffered  from  French  pirates,  and  they 
avenged  themselves  in  any  manner  they  saw  fit.  Crom- 
well was  then  using  every  effort  to  develop  the  power  of 
England  on  the  sea,  and  he  proceeded  with  little  regard 
for  the  rights  of  other  powers.  A  fleet  of  fifty-four  sail 
attacked  the  French  ships,  proceeding  to  the  rescue 
of  Dunkirk,  and  captured  them  all.  The  last  hope  of  re- 
lief was  now  gone,  and  on  September  i6th  the  city  surren- 
dered to  the  Spanish.  The  lack  of  supplies  and  the  hos- 
tility of  the  English  had  cost  France  this  important  sea- 
port.' The  French  cTiarged  that  Leyde  had  promised  the 
English  commander  4,000  scudi  if  he  would  prevent  the 
reinforcements  reaching  Dunkirk.  They  asked  reparation 
for  this  act  and  the  restoration  of  the  vessels.  But  their 
complaints  received  little  attention.  They  were  told  that 
the  vessels  would  be  held  as  a  reprisal  for  damages  done  by 
privateers  sailing  under  French  letters  of  marque,  and  they 
were  not  surrendered.'  France  was  in  no  condition  to 
avenge  such  an  insult  as  this,  inflicted  by  a  power  with 
which  she  was  at  peace.  Mazarin  knew  that  a  war  with 
England  would  ensure  the  complete  triumph  of  Spain, 
and  that  in  an  English  alliance  was  his  strongest  hope  for 
victory  over  the  Spaniards.  True  to  his  character,  he 
suffered  the  affront  and  continued  his  endeavors  to  obtain 
Cromwell's  aid,  which,  after  years  of  delay  and  rebuffs, 
were  to  be  crowned  with  entire  success. 

The  news  of  the  surrender  of  Dunkirk  was  received  with 
exultation  in  Spain  and  by  the  friends  of  Cond^.     The 

'  Ibid.,  Sept.  2d,  14th,  etc.  Gentillat  i  Servien,  Sept.  17th.  Montglat,  279, 
-280.    Reports  from  Dunkirk,  M>s.  4,212.,  46,  84,  et.  seq.  Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.,  48. 

'  Letters  of  Tellier  and  Gentillat  cited  above.  Letters  of  Bordeaux  to 
Brienne,  passim,  1652-3. 


224      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

prince  wrote  that  now  they  were  complete  masters  of  the 
sea.' 

In  Italy  the  Spanish  met  with  equal  success.  After 
capturing  Trino,  they  laid  siege  in  September  to  Casal,  one 
of  the  most  important  positions  in  Northern  Italy.  Casal 
was  associated  with  some  of  Richelieu's  most  famous 
campaigns.  Mazarin  himself  had  first  gained  prominence 
in  the  contests  for  the  possession  of  that  city.  It  had 
been  held  by  the  French  since  1628,  and  they  had  suc- 
cessfully withstood  three  important  sieges.  If  it  was  now 
lost,  the  influence  of  France  in  Italy  would  be  entirely 
destroyed.  The  honor  and  the  power  of  France,  Mazarin 
had  long  declared,  depended  upon  holding  Casal."  But 
little  could  now  be  done  to  preserve  the  city.  There  was 
no  army  to  send  across  the  Alps.  Some  money  was 
furnished  to  assist  in  the  defence,  but  in  October  Casal 
surrendered.  The  Spanish  had  for  twenty-four  years 
endeavored  to  wrest  it  from  France,  and  they  rejoiced 
greatly  at  their  success.  It  was  put  in  the  possession  of 
the  Duke  of  Mantua,  but  with  a  Spanish  garrison,  and  the 
duke  became  the  ally  of  Spain  instead  of  France.* 

The  greatest  loss  in  this  unfortunate  year  was  that  of 
Catalonia.  That  great  province  had  rebelled  against  Spain 
in  1640,  and  had  joined  itself  to  the  kingdom  of  France. 
Before  Richelieu's  death  it  was  entirely  in  French  posses- 
sion, and  it  was  justly  regarded  as  a  part  of  France. 
Though  Mazarin  had  afterwards  contemplated  surrender- 
ing it,  this  was  only  upon  the  condition  that  France 
should  receive  a  still  more  valuable  acquisition  in  the 
Spanish  Low  Countries.  During  the  four  years  which 
had  been  filled  with  the  troubles  of  the  Fronde,  Spain  en- 
deavored, and  with  success,  to  reconquer  the  province 
which  had  abandoned  her.  In  1650,  Mazarin  had  recog- 
nized the  peril  of  Catalonia,  and  had  endeavored  to  send 
assistance   in   war   and    money.*     It  was  possible,   how- 

•  Gourville  A  Lenet,  Sept.  22d.  Conde  4  Lenet,  Sept.  23d,  published 
Mem.  de  Lenet,  572-575.      '  See  letters  to  Tellier,  summer,  1650.  t.  iii. 

*  Montglat,  281,  282.  *  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  t.  iii.,  cited  before. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  225 

s 

ever,  to  do  but  little.  In  165 1  the  Spanish  besieged 
Barcelona.  After  Marchin's  desertion  they  hoped  to 
capture  it  at  once,  but  it  was  defended  with  the  cour- 
age and  constancy  of  the  Catalonian  people.  LaMothe 
Houdancourt  was  again  put  in  command  of  the  province. 
He  had  been  unsuccessful  there  when  France  was  strong, 
and  it  could  hardly  have  been  expected  that  he  could 
rescue  it  when  France  was  weak.  He  succeeded,  how- 
ever, in  forcing  his  way  into  Barcelona,  and  defended  the 
city  with  as  much  success  as  could,  perhaps,  have  been  an- 
ticipated from  the  scanty  means  at  his  command.  The 
inhabitants  endured,  with  constancy,  the  danger  and  want 
caused  by  the  siege,  rather  than  surrender  themselves  to 
Spain,  Some  French  ships  sailed  for  the  rescue  of  the 
place,  but  they  acquitted  themselves  with  little  valor. 
Provisions  were  sent  into  the  town,  but  the  commander 
claimed  he  was  not  in  condition  for  a  conflict  with  the 
Spanish  fleet,  and  he  retreated.  Endeavors  were  made, 
both  by  the  French  troops  and  those  of  the  Catalonians,  to 
raise  the  siege,  but  without  success.  In  October,  after  a 
siege  of  fifteen  months,  Barcelona  surrendered.  Roses  was 
captured  soon  after.  Leucate  was  betrayed  to  Spain  by 
its  governor  for  40,000  crowns.  He  intended  to  enlist 
under  Orleans,  but  learning  the  king  had  reentered  Paris, 
he  made  his  peace,  by  agreeing  to  betray  no  more.  The 
Spanish  granted  an  amnesty  to  the  people  of  Catalonia. 
The  whole  province  fell  into  their  hands,  and  became 
again  a  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Spain.' 

The  loss  of  Catalonia  was  chiefly  due  to  the  turbulence 
and  disloyalty  of  Cond6. '  Had  it  not  been  for  the 
groundless  rebellion  which  he  excited  in  the  autumn  of 
165 1,  and  which  absorbed  the  energies  of  the  French 
armies  during  the  next  year,  Catalonia  might  have  been 
saved  for  France  and  have  remained  a  part  of  that  king- 

•  Dis.  Ven.  cxv.,  77,  8g,  et pas.     Montglat,  282,  283. 

'  Don  Luis  de  Ilaro,  the  Spanish  chief  minister,  said  at  the  conferences 
for  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees,  "que  M.  le  Prince  avoit  ete  cause,  paries 
diversions  en  France,  de  la  prise  de  Barcelone,  et  de  la  reduction  de  toute  la 
Catalogne." — Mazarin  &  Le  Tellier,  Sept,  12,  1659. 


226      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

dom.  The  idea  of  surrendering  it  had  been  scouted  by 
Mazarin  and  his  associates,  unless  upon  the  condition  that 
it  should  be  exchanged  for  the  Low  Countries.  When 
Spain  had  demanded  it  as  a  condition  of  peace,  they  had 
refused  to  listen  to  such  a  proposition,  and  if  the  province 
had  not  been  conquered  by  arms,  it  would  never  have  been 
surrendered  by  treaty.'  It  was  a  national  misfortune  that 
Catalonia  was  lost.  This  great  and  important  province 
would  have  been  a  valuable  accession  to  France.  Its 
brave  and  hardy  population  would  have  become  loyal  and 
industrious  Frenchmen,  and  have  added  to  the  wealth  and 
power  of  that  kingdom.  For  the  Catalonians  it  was  still 
more  unfortunate  that  their  lot  should  thus  have  been 
determined.  They  were  not  closely  related  to  the  people 
of  Aragon  or  Castile.  They  were  now  left  to  share  in  the 
slow  decay  of  the  Spanish  kingdom,  instead  of  having  an 
opportunity  for  development  in  intelligence  and  pros- 
perity as  members  of  a  great  and  progressive  nation. 

The  king  was  again  established  at  Paris,  and  only  at  the 
south  was  there  still  resistance  to  the  general  government. 
Cond6,  after  leaving  Paris,  had  gone  to  Champagne,  and 
there  united  his  own  troops  with  those  of  the  Spanish. 
The  forces  amounted  to  twenty-five  thousand  men, 
and  the  French  army  opposed  to  them  was  not  over  ten 
thousand  strong.  They  met,  therefore,  with  little  resist- 
ance, and  during  October  and  November,  Cond^  captured 
Rethel,  Sainte  Menehould,  Bar  le  Due,  and  several  other 
places  in  Champagne.  Mazarin  now  resolved  to  make  a 
more  vigorous  resistance,  and  to  endeavor  to  drive  the 
Spanish  from  French  soil.  A  few  thousand  raw  recruits 
were  furnished  Turenne,  and  as  the  Spanish  army  was  by 
this  time  considerably  diminished,  he  assumed  the  offen- 
sive.    It  was  so  late  that  the  Spaniards  had  regarded  the 

*  The  views  of  the  French  ministers  on  this  question  are  found  scattered 
through  Mazarin's  and  Servien's  letters,  especially  in  the  correspondence 
published  in  "  Negociations  Secretes  touchant  la  Paix  de  Westphalie,"  and 
tome  ii.  of  Letlres  de  Mazarin.  The  Venetian  minister  said  the  next  year  : 
"  Ilpuntodella  Catalogna,  che  non  si  puote  superare  a  Munster  col  negotio, 
k  stato  espugnato  con  I'armi." — Dis.  Ven.,  cxvi.,  6i. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  22/ 

campaign  as  ended,  and  expected  to  have  Champagne  for 
their  winter  quarters.  But  they  were  unwilling  to  risk  a 
battle,  and  their  army  retreated  to  Luxembourg.  The 
French  captured  Bar  le  Due  and  some  other  places. 
Mazarin  was  now  with  the  army,  and  he  was  anxious  to 
undertake  the  siege  of  Sainte  Menehould.  But  it  was 
late  in  December.  The  weather  was  very  cold,  and  the 
hail  and  northeast  winds  were  so  severe  over  the  great 
plains  of  Champagne,  that  many  soldiers  perished  from 
exposure.  Turenne  thought  it  rash  to  attempt  the 
siege  of  this  place  in  such  weather,  and  Mazarin  was 
governed  by  his  advice.  Vervins  was,  however,  attacked. 
The  soldiers  murmured  because  they  were  not  allowed  to 
go  into  winter  quarters.  The  Spanish  shouted  impreca- 
tions against  the  cardinal  from  the  walls  of  the  town,  and 
the  besiegers  in  the  trenches  answered,  Amen.  But  the 
city  soon  surrendered,  and  the  campaign  closed  with  the 
gain  of  a  large  portion  of  what  Cond6  had  captured.' 

As  the  government  was  resolved  to  carry  on  the  war 
with  vigor,  and  hoped  the  next  year  to  have  40,000  men 
in  the  field,  it  was  necessary  to  resort  to  new  taxation. 
On  the  last  day  of  December,  1652,  Louis  went  to  the 
Parliament  to  hold  a  bed  of  justice.  He  was  accompanied 
by  his  guards,  and  the  presence  of  numerous  soldiers  was 
a  reminder  to  the  judges,  that  the  king  was  now  prepared 
to  enforce  his  authority.  Edicts  were  read  which  reestab- 
lished a  large  number  of  offices  and  rights  that  had  been 
abolished  by  the  edict  of  October,  1648,  imposed  a  tax  on 
franc  fiefs,  and  increased  the  duty  on  wine.  The  Chamber 
of  Justice,  which  had  been  established  to  proceed  against 
the  financiers,  was  now  abolished.  700,000  livres  were 
added  to  the  wages  of  oflficers  of  judicature  and  finance.* 

The  establishment  of  taxes  similar  to  these,  in  January, 
1648,  had  led  to  the  conference  in  the  Chamber  of  St. 
Louis  and  the  beginning  of  the  Fronde.     The  government 

*  Lettres  de  Mazarin  i  Le  Tellier,  December  and  January,  Mss.  4211. 
Mem.  de  Turenne.  450  452  ;  Mem.  de  York,  557-563. 

'Journal  du  Parlement,  1652,  Dec.  31st.  Talon,  516.  Dis  Ven.,  cxv., 
124. 


228      FRANCE    UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

had  then  been  unable  to  enforce  them,  and  had  been  com- 
pelled to  grant  an  edict  recognizing  to  some  extent  the 
control  which  the  Parliament  sought  to  exercise.  The 
imposition  of  such  taxes  in  1653  caused  discontent  among 
many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Paris,  and  was  offensive  to 
some  members  of  the  Parliament.  But  the  court  had 
proceeded  to  extreme  measures,  and  the  results  of  its 
action  had  been  disastrous.  It  had  sought  to  exercise 
such  authority,  that  it  had  lost  the  power  it  once  pos- 
sessed. It  was  weaker  at  the  end  of  the  Fronde  than  it 
had  been  at  the  beginning.  The  most  factious  members 
were  now  in  exile.  Those  who  would  have  been  glad  to 
attempt  remonstrances  against  these  new  edicts  found  no 
leaders,  and  they  were  registered  and  enforced  in  silence. 

The  administration  also  did  away  with  the  restraint  on 
its  conduct,  which  had  limited  to  3,000,000  the  amount 
to  be  paid  by  acquits  a  comptant.  The  Chamber  of  Ac- 
counts remonstrated,  but  the  king's  brother  was  sent  to 
hold  a  bed  of  justice  and  order  the  registration  of  the 
order  of  the  council.  The  members  of  the  Accounts  were 
forced  to  obey,  and  their  remonstrances  were  regarded  as 
so  insignificant  that  a  boy  of  twelve  was  sent  to  overcome 
their  resistance.  In  January  a  few  hundred  holders  of 
unpaid  rentes  attempted  some  disturbance.  A  company 
of  soldiers  at  once  fired  on  them  and  checked  the  com- 
motion. They  complained  that  the  government  paid  its 
debts  by  musket  balls,  but  they  abandoned  any  attempt 
to  excite  disorder.' 

All  was  now  ready  for  Mazarin's  return.  The  queen 
had  long  urged  it,  and  wrote  the  cardinal  that  if  he 
knew  what  she  suffered  from  his  delays  he  would  surely 
be  touched.  He  must  at  least  write  her  daily,  and  that 
would  be  some  solace  to  her.*  At  last  he  yielded  to  such 
supplications,  and  returned  to  Paris.  The  king  offered 
to  come  out  to  escort  him,  but  he  declined  such  an  honor 

'  Dis  Ven.,  cxv.,  148. 

'  Letters  of  queen  to  Mazarin.     Mss.   Bib.,  Nat.,  Clairembaut,  I144.,  89, 
tt  seq.     These  have  been  published  by  Cousin. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  229 

lest  it  should  be  interpreted  as  meaning  that  he  needed 
the  king's  presence  to  protect  him  from  popular  hatred.' 
On  the  3d  of  February,  1653,  he  entered  Paris,  victorious 
over  all  his  enemies,  after  being  twice  in  exile,  and  after 
five  years  of  disturbance.  He  had  borne  their  affronts,  he 
had  yielded  to  their  animosity,  he  had  been  driven  from 
the  kingdom  at  their  demand,  but  he  had  overcome  them 
at  last.  From  the  day  of  his  re-entry  into  Paris  until  the 
day  of  his  death,  he  was  the  absolute  ruler  of  France. 
Not  only  the  opposition  to  him,  but  the  animosity  to  him, 
faded  away.  The  cry  of  "  No  Mazarin  ! "  was  heard 
neither  in  public  nor  private,  and  even  the  most  obstinate 
Frondeurs  forgot  some  of  their  hatred  against  the  man 
whose  fortune  had  proved  itself  to  be  invincible.  He  en- 
tered Paris  accompanied  by  a  great  following  of  soldiers, 
courtiers,  and  city  dignitaries,  and  he  was  met  by  the 
king.  It  was  a  rainy  day,  but  even  his  enemies  admitted 
that  only  the  rain  checked  the  popular  applause  on  his  re- 
turn." In  the  night  bonfires  lighted  up  the  streets,  and 
the  next  morning  a  multitude  was  gathered  in  his  ante- 
chamber. All  his  friends  were  there,  eager  for  reward, 
and  his  old  opponents  gave  him  their  support  for  fear  of 
punishment.*  While  the  cardinal  showed  no  desire  to  pun- 
ish his  enemies,  the  honors  and  emoluments  were  bestowed 
upon  those  who  had  been  faithful  to  his  interests.  It  was 
seen  that  there  was  no  road  to  favor,  except  that  which 
led  to  the  chamber  of  Mazarin.*  He  brought  from  Rome 
his  remaining  nephews  and  nieces,  that  he  might  have 
more  material  for  alliances  with  the  powerful  families  of 
France  and  Europe.  His  niece,  the  Duchess  of  Mercoeur, 
entered  the  city,  bringing  with  her  the  others  of  his  family, 
and  she  was  accompanied  by  as  great  a  following  as  the 
queen  herself.  The  marriage  between  the  Duke  of  Mer- 
coeur and  Mazarin's  niece  had  been  delayed  by  Condi's 
opposition.     But  the  duke  had  remained  constant,  and 

'  Mazarin  k  Tellier,  Mss..  4211.,  606,  et  set}.      '  Lettres  de  Patin,  i.,  207. 

*  Lettres  de  Patin,  i.,  224.  Sagrado,  the  Venetian  ambassador,  says  of 
Mazarin  :  "  Rittornato  nello  steso  posto  d'auttorita  e  di  grandezza,  anzi 
piu  stimato  e  piu  temuto  che  mai." — cxv.,  150-152.  *  IbiJ.,  154. 


230       FRANCE.  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

when  Mazarin  was  in  exile  at  Briihl,  and  it  seemed  possible 
that  he  could  never  regain  power,  Mercoeur  married  the 
niece  of  the  fallen  minister.  The  Parliament  claimed  that 
this  was  an  act  of  high  treason,  and  the  duke  was  sum- 
moned before  it  to  answer  for  his  conduct.  The  proceed- 
ing resulted  in  nothing,  and  after  Mazarin's  return  to 
power,  Mercoeur  was  soon  rewarded  by  receiving  the  gov- 
ernment of  Provence.  Fouquet,  the  procureur-general, 
and  his  brother  the  abb^,  had  been  active  and  valuable 
agents  in  alienating  Paris  from  the  Fronde.  The  pro- 
cureur-general and  Servien  were  now  made  superinten- 
dents of  finance.'  Fouquet's  appointment  proved  a  very- 
unfortunate  one,  and  after  he  obtained  control  of  the 
finances,  he  involved  them  in  incalculable  disorder.  The 
clergy  were  much  employed  politically,  both  by  Richelieu 
and  Mazarin,  and  many  of  them  were  now  rewarded  with 
bishoprics  and  livings.  Various  nobles  were  made  mar- 
shals and  dukes.  So  many  of  the  latter  were  created, 
that  the  wits  charged  Mazarin  with  saying  that  he  would 
make  it  ridiculous  to  be  a  duke,  and  ridiculous  not  to  be 
a  duke." 

He  endeavored  in  many  ways  to  regain  the  good-will  of 
the  Parisian  bourgeoisie,  whose  hostility  had  been  so  per- 
sistent and  so  injurious.  The  best  means  to  that  end  was 
one  which  he  now  adopted.  An  order  was  given  to  re- 
sume the  regular  payment  of  the  rentes  of  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  which  had  been  for  so  many  years  interrupted.  In 
honor  of  this  and  of  the  return  of  the  minister,  on  March 
29th,  he  was  given  a  grand  dinner  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  by 
the  officials  of  the  city  of  Paris.  The  aldermen  and  col- 
onels were  ready  to  receive  the  man  against  whom  they 
had  so  often  labored.  He  rode  in  his  carriage  through  a 
great  crowd,  who  cheered  him  as  he  went.  At  the  din- 
ner, after  the  health  of  the  king,  the  health  of  the  min- 
ister was  drunk  amid  tremendous  applause,  and  the  an- 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.,  155. 

*  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  there  is  no  authority  for  Mazarin's 
uttering  the  words  with  which  he  was  so  often  charged. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  23 1 

dent  building  resounded  with  shouts  of  "  Long  live 
Mazarin  !  "  When  he  returned  to  his  palace,  the  crowd, 
among  which  were  many  women,  followed  him.  The 
doors  were  hospitably  thrown  open,  and  those  who  en- 
tered were  served  with  refreshments.  Who  could  help 
loving  an  affable  and  smiling  cardinal  who  scattered  gold 
pieces  among  the  men  and  gave  candy  to  their  wives?' 

The  government  now  turned  its  attention  to  those  parts 
of  France  where  tranquillity  had  not  yet  been  established. 
There  had  been  disturbances,  both  in  Provence  and  Bur- 
gundy, excited  by  adherents  of  Cond^  or  by  local  com- 
plaints. They  were  not,  however,  difficult  to  overcome. 
Burgundy  was  soon  quieted.  In  Provence,  the  inhabitants 
of  Toulon  surrendered  their  city  on  Mercoeur's  threat 
that  he  would  cut  down  the  olive-trees.  The  new  gov- 
ernor conducted  himself  with  moderation,  while  his  prede- 
cessor, the  Count  of  Alais,  had,  by  his  tyranny  and  vio- 
lence, alienated  the  province  and  been  the  cause  of  its 
insurrections.  Mazarin  advised  his  nephew  to  restore  the 
good-will  of  the  people  by  soft  ways  and  by  improving 
their  lot."  Though  the  minister  had  sometimes  sup- 
ported the  nobles,  whose  violence  had  made  desperate 
the  inhabitants  of  the  provinces  they  governed,  such 
courses  were  distasteful  to  him.  During  the  remaining 
years  of  his  administration  the  governments  of  many 
important  provinces  were  held  by  Mazarin  himself,  or  by 
the  young  nobles  to  whom  he  married  his  nieces,  but 
there  were  no  complaints  of  local  tyranny  or  violence, 
where  his  counsels  prevailed. 

More  serious  questions  were  presented  in  Guienne. 
That  province  had  long  supported  Cond^,  but  its  support 
had  originally  been  given  him  because  he  opposed  the 
government.  The  discontents  of  the  province  found 
their  utterance  chiefly  in  Bordeaux,  and  that  city  was 
the  scene  of  the  last,  and  one  of  the  most  curious  of 
the  chapters  of  the  Fronde. 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxv.,  26,  et  seq.  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  10,275.  Loret  wrote  in 
the  Muse  Ilistorique  :  "  O  gens  de  Fronde,  s'il  en  est  encor  par  le  monde, 
que  dites  vous  de  cette  affaire."  *  Mazarin  &  Mercoeur,  May  17,  1652. 


232        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

The  peace  of  Bordeaux  in  October,  1650,  had  left  the 
city  tranquil,  but  not  intimidated,  and  its  citizens  were 
neither  attached  to  the  government  nor  afraid  of  it. 
In  the  next  year  Cond6  was  made  governor  of  the 
province  of  Guienne,  and  when  he  took  up  arms  in  the 
autumn  he  found  its  people  ready  to  support  him  in  his 
revolt.  The  prince  was  unsuccessful  in  his  campaign,  and 
he  was  soon  embarrassed  by  dissensions  even  in  Guienne. 
As  early  as  January,  1652,  there  were  said  to  be  three  par- 
ties at  Bordeaux :  one  in  favor  of  the  princes,  one  inclined 
towards  peace  with  the  king,  and  a  third  so  revolutionary 
that  it  desired  to  follow  the  example  of  England  and 
throw  off  allegiance  to  any  monarch.'  Wearied  of  dis- 
sensions and  discouraged  by  ill  success,  Cond6  left  Gui- 
enne and  went  to  Paris.  The  insurrection  continued 
subject  to  his  orders,  but  Conti  and  Mme,  de  Longueville 
represented  him  at  Bordeaux,  while  Marchin  had  the 
principal  charge  of  military  operations  in  his  absence. 

Notwithstanding  Conde's  departure,  the  forces  of  the 
king  were  so  much  weakened  that  they  made  slow  prog- 
ress." Their  troubles  were  aggravated  by  the  discontent 
of  the  Count  of  Harcourt.  Harcourt  felt  that  he  had  not 
been  suflficiently  rewarded  for  his  exertions  on  behalf  of 
the  king.  He  was  already  governor  of  Alsace  and  of  the 
fortress  of  Philipsburg,  but  he  now  demanded  the  govern- 
ment of  Brisach.  Mazarin  was  unwilling  to  give  him  a 
place  of  such  strength  and  importance,  and  Harcourt  re- 
solved to  seize  it  without  waiting  for  authority.  Charle- 
voix was  under-governor  of  Brisach,  and  becoming  jealous 
of  the  governor,  he  used  his  influence  among  the  soldiers 
and  drove  him  from  the  city.  Charlevoix  remained  in 
command  in  defiance  of  the  general  government.  There 
were  no  soldiers  with  which  to  reduce  a  place  of  such 
strength,  but  a  woman  offered  to  deliver  Charlevoix  into 
the   hands   of    his   enemies.       He  was   drawn    from    the 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxiv.,  89.  One  desired  "  havere  modo  di  vivere  all'  uso  degli 
Inglesi,  governandosi  senza  obbedienza  a  monarchi." 

'Archives  du  Minist^re  de  la  Guerre,  133,  Letires  Mai,  26,  27,  28,  Har- 
court i  Tellier. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  ERONDE.  233 

fortress  by  an  assignation  with  his  mistress,  and  was 
captured  by  the  king's  forces.  He  was  carried  to 
Philipsburg,  and  there  availing  himself  of  Harcourt's 
discontent,  he  offered  to  receive  the  count  as  governor  of 
Brisach,  if  he  could  be  restored  to  his  own  position.  The 
garrison  at  Brisach  was  fond  of  its  commander,  and  ill 
paid  by  the  king.  It  continued  to  hold  the  place  in  defi- 
ance of  the  royal  orders,  and  demanded  the  release  of 
Charlevoix,  until  Mazarin  was  obliged  to  grant  it.  Har- 
court  now  decided  that  it  was  safe  to  defy  the  govern- 
ment. On  the  night  of  August  15,  1652,  he  left  the  army 
under  his  command  without  a  leader,  and  proceeded  at 
once  to  Alsace.  There  he  assumed  command  of  the 
province,  took  possession  of  Philipsburg,  was  received  by 
Charlevoix  and  his  soldiers  as  governor  of  Brisach,  notwith- 
standing the  king's  order  for  his  arrest,  and  assumed  the 
position  practically  of  an  independent  prince.  He  did  not, 
however,  ally  himself  with  Cond^,  but  waited  to  see  from 
which  party  he  could  obtain  the  most  advantageous  terms.* 
In  the  meantime  the  city  of  Bordeaux  was  a  prey  to  in- 
ternal commotions.  There,  as  at  Paris,  a  violent  element 
obtained  control,  ready  for  disturbance,  and  not  alarmed  by 
the  possibility  of  radical  changes  in  the  government.  The 
literature  of  the  time  shows  that,  in  these  years  of  turmoil, 
views  of  all  kinds  found  utterance.  Among  the  pamph- 
lets which  were  published  and  circulated  at  Paris  and 
elsewhere,  are  many  which  seem  to  belong  to  the  latter 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  "Are  kings  of  divine  in- 
stitution?" some  of  them  inquire.  "  Have  they  absolute 
power  over  our  property  and  our  lives  ?  "  '*  Should  not  the 
government  exist  for  the  good  both  of  king  and  people  ?  " 
**  The  great  are  great  because  we  carry  them  on  our  shoul- 
ders." "  Kings  cannot  be  allowed  to  destroy  the  liberty  of 
a  people,  to  whose  consent  the  monarchy  itself  owes  its 
existence." 

'  For  the  discontents  and  conduct  of  Harcourt  and  Charlevoix,  see  letters 
of  Harcourt  and  others  from  Guienne,  Archives  Nationales  K.  K.,  1219. 
Archives  du  Ministire  de  la  Guerre,  133-136, /ojjiw.  Correspondence  of 
Mazarin  and  Tellier.  Mss.,  4209,  4210. 


234      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Radical  views,  however,  found  no  favor  among  the  ma- 
jority of  the  people.  Some  were  ready  to  preach  the 
doctrine,  but  there  were  few  ready  to  receive  it.  The  ele- 
ment which  obtained  control  at  Bordeaux  was  more  actu- 
ated by  love  of  disturbance,  than  by  love  of  liberty. 

During  the  popular  emotion  against  Epernon,  meetings,, 
mostly  of  the  lower  classes,  had  been  held  under  some 
great  elms  near  the  city,  and  from  this  circumstance  a 
party  had  taken  the  name  of  the  Ormee.  It  now  assumed 
a  more  definite  form,  and  began  to  protest  against  the 
slackness  of  the  officers  and  magistrates,  who,  it  was 
charged,  were  ready  to  abandon  the  popular  cause.  The 
Parliament  was  itself  divided  into  two  factions,  both  of 
which  found  followers  among  the  bourgeoisie.  The  little 
Fronde  was  composed  of  those  who  had  originally  sought 
some  extension  of  judicial  privileges,  but  were  discon- 
certed at  finding  themselves  drawn  into  rebellion,  and 
now  desired  a  restoration  of  peace  and  of  the  royal  author- 
ity. The  great  Fronde  contained  those  who  were  staunch 
in  the  cause  of  the  Prince  of  Cond6.  While  the  Orm^e 
also  professed  allegiance  to  Cond6,  it  contained  a  lower 
social  element  than  was  found  in  the  followers  of  the 
Parliament,  and  was  fiercer  in  its  denunciations  of  any 
proposal  to  make  terms  with  the  government. 

The  Orm^e  was  a  society  composed  originally  of  a  small 
number  of  active  and  violent  men,  and  in  its  organization 
not  wholly  unlike  the  society  of  the  Jacobins.  Its  most 
influential  leaders  were  Vilars,  a  lawyer,  and  Duretete,  a 
former  butcher.  The  butcher  seems  to  have  been  an 
ignorant,  violent,  but  sincere  man.  The  lawyer  was  an 
unmitigated  rogue.  Troubles  increased  between  t*his  so- 
ciety and  the  Parliament,  and  on  June  3d  it  held  a  meet- 
ing attended  by  three  thousand  armed  men,  and  decided 
on  the  exile  of  fourteen  of  the  judges  who  were  regarded 
as  traitors  to  the  cause.  The  members  prepared  a  paper 
declaring  their  union  in  the  principles  they  professed,  and 
endeavored  to  compel  all  to  sign.' 

'  Arch.  Nationales  K.K.,  1219.,  372.     Gazette,  June  6th. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  23$. 

The  offending  judges  were  obliged  to  leave  the  city,  but 
in  a  few  days  the  Parliament  again  obtained  control,  and 
the  exiles  were  recalled  and  received  with  great  solemnity. 
But  the  Orm^e  was  not  thus  to  be  overcome.  On  June 
25th  these  contests  resulted  in  a  battle  in  the  streets,  in 
which  the  society  had  the  advantage.  Many  of  the  judges 
abandoned  the  conflict  and  left  the  city.  The  Orm6e  es- 
tablished itself  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  succeeded  in  con- 
trolling for  the  most  part  the  affairs  of  the  city.'  The 
organization  passed  its  resolutions,  like  the  Jacobins,  and 
then  compelled  their  adoption  by  the  officials.  This 
authority  was  preserved  by  vigorous  measures.  Traitors 
to  the  cause  were  expelled,  property  was  confiscated,  and 
other  punishments  were  inflicted.  Scenes  of  violence 
were  frequent,  and  as  the  Orm^e  could  count  on  twelve 
thousand  men,  and  had  the  advantage  of  a  vigorous  lead- 
ership, it  became  the  controlling  element.' 

Under  the  cover  of  such  an  organization,  there  was 
much  pillaging  simply  for  the  individual  gain  of  those 
who  sought  a  license  for  disorder  and  plunder.  Cond6 
decided  that  he  would  recognize  the  Orm^e  as  a 
political  organization,  and  strengthen  it  by  his  approval. 
He  wrote  his  agent  Lenet,  that  in  his  judgment  the  Orm^e 
was  the  strongest  of  the  political  parties,  and  it  was  best 
to  make  an  alliance  with  it.*  "  Conduct  our  affairs,"  he 
wrote  again,  "  so  we  shall  always  be  in  accord  with  the 
strongest  party,  whether  it  is  the  great  or  little  Fronde,  or 
the  Ormee."  *  Paris,  he  said,  had  been  lost  because  they 
had  begun  much,  but  finished  nothing.  At  Bordeaux  they 
must  carry  their  measures  through  and  continue  masters 
of  the  city.*    In  December,  when  the  Orm^e  was  becoming 

'  Lenet  4  Conde,  June  26th,  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  6707.  Many  documents 
on  this  subject  have  been  printed  by  the  industry  of  the  Count  de  Cosnac, 
and  can  be  found  scattered  through  the  eight  volumes  of  his  "  Souvenirs  de 
Louis  XIV." 

•  Memoires  de  Cosnac,  i.,  72.  Correspondence  of  Lenet  with  Conde, 
1652-3.     Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  6707.  *  Conde  i  Lenet,  July  15th. 

*  Jb.,  .\ugust  26th.  Many  of  the  letters  are  published  in  the  Memoires  de 
Lenet.  *  lb.,  Dec.  23th. 


2^6      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

more  violent  against  the  members  of  the  parliamentary- 
party,  the  prince  wrote  that  matters  must  be  carried  to 
the  end.  Those  who  had  been  exiled  must  continue  in 
exile.  To  consider  now  the  services  which  they  had  for- 
merly rendered  him,  would  result  in  the  loss  of  Bordeaux, 
and  he  wished  to  hold  that  city  at  any  price.  To  avoid 
embarrassment  to  himself,  however,  it  would  be  well  so  to 
arrange,  that  all  such  violences  could  be  attributed  to  his 
brother  and  sister,  and  no  order  of  his  should  appear.' 
Conti  and  Mme.  de  Longueville  followed  Condi's  instruc- 
tions, and  declared  themselves  in  full  sympathy  with  the 
Ormee. 

The  Parliament  of  Bordeaux  continued  to  exercise  a 
disturbed  authority,  its  members  and  the  Orm^e  viewing 
each  other  always  with  mortal  hatred.  The  Parliament 
approved  of  the  action  taken  at  Paris  by  which  Orleans 
was  declared  lieutenant-general,  and  asked  to  be  allowed 
to  send  deputies  to  his  council,  who  should  represent  the 
interests  of  Guienne."  The  government  followea  the 
policy  it  had  adopted  at  Paris,  and  ordered  the  Parliament 
to  meet  at  Agen.  Some  of  the  judges  friendly  to  peace 
gradually  resorted  there,  and  there  were  two  Parliaments  of 
Guienne,  each  claiming  to  be  the  legal  body. 

It  was  necessary  to  appoint  a  general  in  the  place  of  Har- 
court,  and  Mazarin  selected  the  young  Duke  of  Candale. 
The  fact  that  he  was  a  son  of  the  Duke  of  Epernon  made 
the  choice  an  injudicious  one,  but  the  cardinal  resolved 
upon  it  from  the  desire  that  he  still  entertained  of  ob- 
taining the  young  duke  for  one  of  his  nieces.*  Contis, 
Colonnas,  princes  of  Savoy  and  Modena,  were  eager  to 
marry  into  the  family  of  the  cardinal,  but  Candale,  whose 
grandfather  had  been  a  minion  of  Henry  III.,  and  whose 
mother  was  a  bastard  of  Henry  IV.,  regarded  such  an 

'  lb.,  Dec.  26th.  '  Mss.  6709.     Letter  of  Lenet  of  August  12th. 

•Letters  from  some  of  the  officers  of  Oct.  17th,  to  Tellier,  Arch.  Nat.  K. 
K.  I2ig,  state  their  disapproval  of  Candale's  choice.  Mazarin,  in  a  letter  to 
Ondedei,  Sept.  15th,  refers  to  his  lingering  hopes  of  the  marriage  of  one  of 
liis  nieces  with  the  duke,  though  he  thinks  Candale  holds  out  the  possibility 
of  it  as  a  lure  to  secure  advantages  for  himself  and  his  family. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  237 

alliance  as  degrading,  Mazarin  was  disappointed  in  his- 
hopes,  but  Candale  conducted  himself  with  fair  judgment 
in  Guienne.  Vendome  was  associated  with  him  as  admira'.^ 
of  the  fleet,  but  while  the  jealousies  of  the  two  comman- 
ders hampered  the  success  of  the  king's  arms,  they  did  not 
prevent  it. 

The  restoration  of  the  king's  authority  at  Paris  strength- 
ened the  party  at  Bordeaux  that  desired  peace,  and  in- 
creased the  violence  of  the  party  that  was  opposed  to  it. 
Plots  were  laid  for  the  overthrow  of  the  local  authorities, 
but  they  were  wholly  unsuccessful.  Vilars,  the  leader  of 
the  Orm^e,  agreed  with  some  priests  who  were  intriguing^ 
for  the  government  that,  on  receiving  pardon  and  ninety^ 
thousand  livres,  he  would  start  a  popular  movement,  which 
would  throw  open  the  gates  of  the  city  to  the  king's  army. 
He  was  paid  a  part  of  the  money,  and  then  disclosed  the 
plot  to  Conti.  Father  Ithier,  who  had  shown  more  zeal 
than  skill  in  his  intrigues  for  the  king,  was  at  once  seized 
and  tried  before  a  council  of  war.  By  the  exertions  of 
Mme.  de  Longueville  he  escaped  death,  but  he  was  con- 
demned to  be  taken  through  the  streets  of  Bordeaux, 
branded  as  a  traitor  to  his  country,  and  then  to  be  im- 
prisoned for  life  on  bread  and  water.  This  was  not 
satisfactory  to  the  people,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  they 
were  prevented  from  tearing  him  to  pieces.  When  the 
royal  authority  was  restored  at  Bordeaux,  Father  Ithier 
exchanged  his  bread  and  water  for  a  bishopric'  An  ad- 
vocate named  Chevalier  was  arrested,  having  a  passport 
from  the  king  to  enable  him  to  negotiate  with  the 
Duke  of  Vendome.  He  was  tried  before  a  court 
organized  on  the  spot,  and  composed  of  some  pastry- 
cooks, shoemakers,  and  apothecaries.  Two  hours  were 
sufficient  to  put  him  to  the  torture,  try,  convict,  and  hang 
him.  Filhot,  an  officer  of  the  treasury,  was  also  discovered 
engaged  in  a  plot  with  the  Duke  of  Candale  for  the 
restoration  of  order  in  Bordeaux.      He  was  tried  before  a 

'  Lenet  i  Conde,  March  24,  1653.  Mss.,  6714.  Mem.  de  Berthod,. 
601-612. 


238      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

<:ourt  composed  of  Vilars,  Duretdte,  and  other  ruffians,  and 
presided  over  by  the  Prince  of  Conti.  He  was  barbarously 
tortured,  but  it  was  impossible  to  compel  him  to  reveal 
his  associates.  He  was  not  executed,  but  he  was  left  a 
cripple  for  life.  Years  afterward,  when  Louis  XIV.  was 
at  Bordeaux,  he  desired  to  see  Filhot  and  asked  him 
whether  he  still  suffered  from  the  wounds  he  had  received 
as  a  martyr  for  his  king.  "  When  I  see  your  Majesty,  they 
become  dear  to  me,"  replied  the  loyal  Filhot.  Excited 
by  these  plots,  the  Orm^e  resolved  to  purify  its  ranks,  and 
to  exile  or  imprison  all  who  were  found  engaged  in  any 
such  conspiracies.' 

Such  violences  did  not  prevent  the  growth  of  a  feeling 
favorable  to  peace  and  the  restoration  of  public  order. 
Bordeaux  was  fuller  than  ever  of  faction,  but  the  desire  of 
the  people,  the  nobility,  and  the  clergy  was  for  peace. 
Only  by  speedy  aid  from  Spain  could  the  city  be  kept 
in  hostility  to  its  king  and  in  allegiance  to  Cond^.  Spain 
was  asked  to  send  assistance  and  prevent  this  important 
loss,  but  the  Spanish  delayed  any  vigorous  action,  partly 
from  remissness  and  partly  from  lack  of  troops  and 
money.'  The  most  of  the  province  of  Guienne  was 
gradually  lost  to  the  insurgents.  Some  towns  had  been 
allowed  to  remain  neutral  by  Conti  and  Harcourt,  some 
returned  to  their  allegiance,  some  were  captured  by  the 
king's  armies.'  The  desertion  of  one  of  Condi's  most 
powerful  allies  added  to  the  discouragement  of  his  party. 
The  Count  of  Daugnon  was  governor  of  Brouage  and 
of  the  islands  of  R6  and  Oleron,  and  he  used  his  power 
against  the  government  from  which  he  had  received  it. 
He  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  rebellion,  but  as  he 
became  convinced  that  Condi's  cause  was  hopeless,  he  de- 
cided to  make  terms.  He  surrendered  the  governments 
which  he  held,  on  receiving  five  hundred  thousand  livres  in 
money,  and  being  made  a  duke  and  a  marshal  of  France. 
At  this  price  the  king  was  able  to  remove  his  subject  from 

'  Mem.  de  Cosnac,  52-54.     Cosnac  was  Conti's  confidential  adviser. 
•Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  6713.         *  Lenet  i  Conde,  April  12,  1653,  et passim. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE. 

the  position  in  which  he  had  placed  him.     Daugnon  j 
solved   to  make  his  peace  with  his  God  as  well  as   L 
country.     He  married  his  mistress  and  spent  the  rest  Ox 
his  life  in  wealth  and  obscurity.' 

Cond^  seems  to  have  left  Guienne  to  itself.  He  wrote 
very  rarely  and  felt,  perhaps,  that  he  was  powerless  to  do 
anymore.'  In  this  condition,  the  people  of  Bordeaux  turned 
to  Cromwell  as  the  only  person  who  had  the  power  to  help 
them.  Cond^  had  sent  envoys  to  England  in  165 1,  and 
had  endeavored  to  obtain  its  assistance  against  France.  It 
was  evident  that  Cromwell  was  resolved  to  make  England 
a  power  on  the  continent.  The  English  queen  and  Charles 
II.,  had  both  found  refuge  in  France,  and  Cromwell  was 
told  that  if  he  allowed  that  kingdom  to  regain  its  former 
power,  it  would  be  used  in  an  attempt  to  restore  the 
Stuarts.'  Free  trade  with  Guienne  was  an  additional  ad- 
vantage which  England  would  derive  from  assisting  the 
cause  of  Cond^.  Cromwell  so  far  considered  the  matter 
that  in  1653  he  sent  an  agent  to  Guienne,  to  see  what 
strength  his  party  possessed.  But  Cromwell's  aid  was 
sought  by  many  nations,  and  he  showed  no  haste  in 
deciding  on  his  course.  Cond6  had  permission  to  raise 
troops  in  Ireland,  but  Cromwell  was  willing  to  allow 
France  and  Spain  also  to  take  soldiers  from  a  nation  which 
bore  little  love  to  him.* 

On  April  4,  1653,  at  an  assembly  held  at  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  it  was  resolved  that  Bordeaux  also  should  send  dele- 
gates to  ask  help  from  England.  Three  representatives 
were  chosen  and  accredited  from  Conti  and  the  city. 
They  were  instructed  to  cooperate  with  Condi's  envoys, 
and  to  represent  that  when  Guienne  had  fallen  under  the 
dominatipn  of  France,  it  had  received  various  privileges 
which  had  often  been  confirmed.  These  had  been  vio- 
lated by  Mazarin  and  the  Duke  of  fipernon,  and  for  these,  as 

•Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  6714.,  289. 

'Complaints  that  Conde  sends  no  answers  to  his  despatches  are  frequent 
in  Lenet's  letters  in  the  year  1653. 

•Bordeaux  k  Brienne,  May  20th.,  Afif.  Etr.  Angleterre,  62. 

*  Bordeaux  k  Brienne,  April  7,  1653,  Aff.  Etr.  Angleterre,  t.  62. 


2"^°       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

^  11  as  the  wrongs  inflicted  upon  the   Prince  of  Cond^,. 

•ey  had  taken  up  arms.  The  republic  of  England  pro- 
issed  to  rescue  the  oppressed,  and  it  was  asked  to  furnish 
/to  Bordeaux  and  the  princes  succor  in  men,  money,  and 
/  ships.  In  return  for  this,  it  might  not  only  hope  for  com- 
mercial advantages,  but  the  English  could  have  some  port 
near  Bordeaux  for  their  vessels,  or  they  might  capture  and 
hold  La  Rochelle.  If  the  envoys  were  asked  whether 
Bordeaux  and  the  Huguenots  did  not  wish  to  adopt  a 
new  form  of  government,  they  were  to  reply  that  though 
thus  far  the  Protestants  had  not  cooperated,  doubtless  if 
an  English  army  appeared  in  the  Garonne,  they  would 
rise  and  demand  their  liberty.'  The  envoys  were  received 
by  Cromwell,  but  he  took  no  steps  to  send  aid  to  Bor- 
deaux. Hopes  were  held  out  which  encouraged  the  city 
and  alarmed  the  French  minister,  but  no  ships  were  sent. 
France,  however,  was  not  popular  with  the  party  in 
power  in  England,  and  many  desired  to  espouse  the  inter- 
ests of  Bordeaux  and  Spain." 

On  April  27th,  the  king  offered  a  general  amnesty  to 
the  people  of  Bordeaux,  but  at  a  meeting  of  the  Orm6e 
and  the  bourgeoisie  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  offer  was 
rejected  and  the  city  declared  again  its  fidelity  to  the 
cause  of  the  princes.* 

The  party  of  peace  was,  however,  strengthened  by  the 
steady  success  of  the  king's  forces.  Larmont,  near  Bor- 
deaux, was  guarded  by  an  Irish  regiment  which  had  been 
raised  for  the  service  of  the  prince,  and  was  commanded 
by  Col.  Dillon.  The  men  were  ill  paid  and  discontented, 
and  they  made  terms  with  Vendome.  Larmont  was  cap- 
tured and  the  whole  regiment  enlisted  under  the  banner 
of  France.*  After  much  delay  the  Spanish  sent  a  small 
fleet  of  four  frigates  to  the  relief  of  the  city,  but  they  were 
intercepted  by  the  French  ships  under  Vendome  and  three 

'  These  instructions  are  printed  in  Memoires  de  I.enet,  602-5, 
'Bordeaux  a  I'.rienne,  March  3d,  Aff.  Etr.  Ang.,  62,  et  passim. 
•Mss.  6714.,  299.     lb.,  Lenet  i  Conde,  May  8th. 
*Arch.  Nat.   K.  K.,  1219.,  170.   Letter  of  May  20th. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  24I 

of  them  were  captured.'  This  success  was  followed  by 
the  siege  of  Bourg,  the  strong  place  which  had  been  given 
the  Spanish  on  their  alliance  with  Cond^.  The  loss  of  this 
place  would  cripple  or  destroy  the  power  of  Spain  in 
Guienne,  but  notwithstanding  this,  they  were  remiss  in 
keeping  it  well  garrisoned  and  now  made  but  a  weak  de- 
fence. The  French  pushed  the  attack  with  much  vigor. 
Among  the  assailants  were  the  Scotch  regiment  of  Doug- 
las and  the  Irish  regiment  of  Dillon.  Pleased  with  the 
treatment  they  received  from  Vendome,  the  Irish,  who  had 
deserted  the  prince,  showed  much  gallantry  at  this  siege. 
On  July  5th,  after  an  attack  of  eight  days,  Bourg  sur- 
rendered.' Its  commander,  Don  Usorio,  was  accused  of 
pusillanimity  and  corruption  on  his  return  to  Spain,  and 
was  beheaded  for  misconduct. 

Amid  the  discouragement  of  this  defeat,  their  ambassador 
in  England  sent  word  that  Cromwell  would  send  aid,  if 
Bordeaux  could  be  put  in  his  hands.'  It  is  not  probable 
that  Cromwell  had  decided  on  any  such  step.  He  had 
doubtless  held  out  hopes,  but  he  did  not  purpose  to  in- 
volve himself  in  a  dying  cause,  and  unless  there  was  to  be 
a  general  movement  of  the  Huguenots,  there  was  little 
to  tempt  him  to  interference  in  Guienne.  The  Orm6e 
itself  was  divided  on  the  question  of  a  foreign  alliance.  One 
section,  led  by  Vilars  and  Duretete,  was  in  entire  sympathy 
with  Spain,  while  another  element,  among  which  were 
many  Huguenots,  favored  England  as  an  ally,  and  some 
even  harbored  the  idea  of  a  separate  republic,  which 
should  be  under  her  protection.*  The  ancient  connection 
of  Guienne  with  the  English,  and  the  sympathy  of  the 
Huguenots  with  the  great  Protestant  republic  might  sug- 
gest such  ideas.     English  agents  travelled   through   the 

'  Vendome  k  Mazarin,  June  21st. 

•  "  Prise  de  la  ville,  chasteau  et  citadelle  de  Bourg,"  Paris,  1653.  Lenet  4 
Conde,  July  14th.  Lenet  accuses  the  Spanish  governor  of  having  sold  the 
place,  but  the  charge  was  untrue. 

•  Mem.  de  Cosnac,  68.  The  French  ambassador  wrote  July  loth,  that 
England  had  agreed  to  furnish  four  frigates  for  the  relief  of  Bordeaux.  AS, 
Etr.  Ang.,  62.        *  Arch.  Nat.  K.  K.  1220.,  164.     Letter  of  May,  17th. 


242      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

province,  and  sought  to  further  Cromwell's  desire  to 
strengthen  the  Protestants  in  every  part  of  Europe. 

Among  Condi's  papers  is  a  curious  plan  for  a  republican 
government,  prepared  by  two  Englishmen,  and  embodying 
the  ideas  which  then  prevailed  in  England,  However  un- 
fortunate it  would  have  been  for  Guienne  to  have  been 
separated  from  the  rest  of  France,  the  government  pro- 
posed for  her  offered  privileges,  which  it  was  long  be- 
fore she  enjoyed.  The  supreme  power  was  to  be  invested 
in  a  Parliament  chosen  by  all  except  servants  and  those 
living  on  alms.  Freedom  of  conscience  and  freedom  of 
trade  were  to  be  fundamental  principles.  Trial  by  jury 
was  to  be  established,  imprisonment  for  debt  abolished, 
excessive  punishments  to  be  done  away  with,  and  no  one 
could  be  punished  for  refusing  to  answer  questions  which 
would  tend  to  criminate  him.  The  traces  of  Puritan  be- 
liefs are  seen  in  the  special  condemnation  of  drunkenness, 
blasphemy,  and  lewdness,  which  were  to  be  punished  in 
prince  or  peasant,  and  in  the  demand  for  a  religious  ob- 
servance of  Sunday.  The  plan  contains  many  of  the  philo- 
sophical phrases  as  to  the  nature  of  government,  which 
were  then  common  in  England,  were  to  be  still  more  pre- 
valent in  France  in  the  next  century,  and  some  of  which 
are  found  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  "  The 
peasant  is  as  free  as  the  prince,"  it  says,  "the  one  does 
not  come  into  the  world  with  a  wooden  shoe  on  his  foot, 
nor  the  other  with  a  crown  on  his  head.  Therefore  every 
one  is  by  birth  free,  and  has  the  power  to  choose  the  gov- 
ernment by  which  he  will  be  ruled.  A  man  can  be  com- 
pelled only  by  his  own  consent,  or  by  that  of  his  repre- 
sentatives."' 

Cond6  was  not  alarmed  at  the  danger  of  founding  a 
Protestant  republic,  in  his  efforts  to  render  the  king  of 
France  subservient  to  his  will.     "  To  tell  you  my  senti- 

*  This  plan  for  a  republic  is  found,  written  in  very  bad  P'rench,  in  Porte- 
feuille  du  Prince  de  Conde,  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  6731.  It  has  been  pub- 
lished, with  corrections  in  the  spelling  and  language,  in  Cosnac's  "  Souvenirs 
de  Louis  XIV.,"  t.  7. 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  243 

merits  about  this  cabal  of  the  Huguenots,"  he  wrote  Lenet, 
"  who  you  say  are  tending  directly  to  a  republic,  it  is  not 
the  worst  party,  and  I  think  it  should  be  sustained,  with- 
out rendering  it  predominant.  It  will  not  attain  its  ends, 
but  having  this  idea  of  a  republic,  it  will  prevent  the 
others  from  asking  for  peace."  ' 

But  the  mass  of  the  Huguenot  party  had  no  desire  to 
disturb  the  present  government.  Their  religious  privi- 
leges had  been  ratified,  and  Mazarin's  tolerance  was  re- 
warded by  Condi's  inability  to  obtain  any  considerable 
support  from  French  Protestants.  Had  they  continued  a 
political  party,  such  as  they  were  until  the  capture  of  La 
Rochelle  by  Richelieu,  it  is  possible  that  Conde's  rebel- 
lions, and  Cromwell's  willingness  to  support  a  Protestant 
republic,  might  have  cost  France  some  of  her  southern 
provinces. 

No  action  was  taken  on  the  report  of  the  envoy  in  Eng- 
land. The  Prince  of  Conti  was  a  different  nature  from 
his  older  brother.  Some  months  before  he  had  begun 
secret  negotiations  with  the  Duke  of  Candale,  and  while 
he  was  presiding  at  the  trial  of  those  discovered  in  making 
plots  for  restoring  Bordeaux  to  the  king,  he  had  already 
made  his  own  peace,  by  which  his  estates  were  to  be 
restored  to  him,  and  he  was  to  desert  the  city  at  a  con- 
venient season,'  Conti  now  discouraged  the  plans  for  an 
alliance  with  England,  and  prepared  to  place  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  party  for  peace.' 

Immediately  after  the  capture  of  Bourg,  the  armies  of 
the  king  began  the  siege  of  Bordeaux.  They  were  directed 
to  press  it  with  vigor,  but  the  desire  of  the  inhabitants  for 
peace  saved  the  necessity  for  a  prolonged  siege.*  Bor- 
deaux was  hemmed  in  on  every  side.  Almost  all  of  the 
rest  of  Guienne  had  been  reduced  to  obedience,  its  trade 
was  destroyed  by  the  war,  its  citizens  were  weary  of  dis- 

'  Conde  to  Lenet,  March  10,  1653. 

•  These  negotiations  are  fully  stated  by  his  agent,  Cosnac.  Memoires, 
47-66.  *  lb.,  68.  et  seq. 

*  The  instructions  for  the  attack  of  the  city  are  found  in  Archives  du 
Minist^re  de  la  Guerre,  t.  140. 


244       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

order,  confiscations,  and  bloodshed.'  Public  meetings 
were  held  and  the  rule  of  the  Orm^e  was  overthrown. 
On  July  19th,  the  Prince  of  Conti  met  with  a  great 
assembly  of  citizens  and  declared  himself  openly  for 
peace.  On  the  20th,  those  imprisoned  by  the  Orm^e 
were  released.  In  place  of  its  red  ensigns,  white  flags 
floated  from  all  the  buildings  and  the  belfrys  of  the 
churches,  and  there  was  heard  only  the  cry  of  peace,  and 
Long  live  the  king ! " 

Terms  of  peace  were  soon  made.  Conti,  it  had  already 
been  agreed,  should  retire  to  his  possessions  and  he  was 
soon  to  obtain  the  highest  favor  of  the  government  by 
marrying  the  niece  of  Mazarin.  Mme.  de  Longueville 
was  also  allowed  to  retire.  She  was  wearied  of  the  disap- 
pointments of  love  and  politics,  and  she  desired  a  life  of 
religious  penance.  P'rom  Bordeaux  she  rejoined  her  aunt, 
the  widow  of  Montmorenci,  in  the  convent  of  the  Visita- 
tion. The  next  year,  wishing  still  more  to  do  penance  for 
her  past  sins,  she  returned  to  her  husband  in  Normandy, 
and  lived  with  him  until  his  death.  The  remainder  of  her 
life  was  largely  spent  at  the  convents  of  the  Carmelites  and 
the  Port  Royal,  and  she  often  used  her  influence  in  pro- 
tecting the  inmates  of  the  latter  from  the  persecutions  to 
which  they  were  exposed.  She  died  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
nine  after  a  penitence  of  twenty-seven  years." 

Marchin,  Lenet,  and  the  soldiers  of  the  prince  were 
allowed  to  rejoin  Cond^.  Less  favorable  terms  were 
granted  to  the  city  itself.  The  government  was  tired 
of  its  insurrections  and  resolved  that  this  peace  should 
be  final.  Amnesty  was  granted  to  all  except  Vilars, 
Duretete,  and  the  envoys  in  England,  but  the  right  was 
insisted  on  of  reerecting  two  fortresses  which  would  com- 
mand the  city.  The  privileges  of  the  province  were 
recognized,    but    no    conditions   were    made    as    to   who 

'  Lenet  wrote  Conde  that  the  city  had  suffered  inconceivable  ruin  in  liis 
service  and  held  out  till  its  last  piece  of  bread.     Mss.  6716.,  59,  July  2gth. 

*  Memoire  i  Mazarin,  July  22d.     Arch,  Nat.  K.  K.,  1220. 

'  "  Une  penitence  de  27  ans,"  said  Mme  de  Sevigne,  "  est  un  beau  champ 
pour  conduire  une  si  belle  ime  au  ciel." 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FRONDE.  245 

should  be  its  governor,  and  the  Parliament  was  to  re- 
main for  the  present  at  Agen.  On  July  31st  the  articles 
of  peace  were  published  at  Bordeaux,  and  on  August  3d 
Vendome  and  Candale  made  their  entry  into  the  city. 
It  marked  the  close  of  the  last  phase  of  the  Fronde.' 

The  government  proceeded  at  once  to  erect  the  castles 
of  Trompette  and  Ho,  and  they  were  made  powerful 
enough  to  check  any  future  turbulence.  The  few  other 
towns  in  arms  were  soon  reduced  to  obedience.  Vilars 
made  his  escape,  but  Duretete  was  broken  on  a  wheel  and 
his  quarters  placed  on  the  gates  of  the  city  as  a  warning 
to  others.  It  was  apparently  heeded,  for  Guienne  became 
a  peaceful  province. 

*  Articles  with  princes  are  found  Mem.  de  Cosnac,  95-8.  Those  with 
the  city  are  published  in  "  Souvenirs  du  Regne  du  Louis  XIV.,"  t.  viii.,  iii- 
722.  The  instructions  of  the  government  in  reference  to  Bordeaux  and 
other  papers  concerning  the  peace  are  published,  lb.,  85-107,  144-151. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  WAR  WITH  SPAIN  AND  THE  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND. 

Mazarin  had  not  only  to  restore  order  to  France,  but  to 
carry  on  the  war  against  Spain  with  such  vigor  as  to  re- 
gain what  had  been  lost  during  the  last  few  years.  He 
gave  much  attention  to  organizing  the  army  and  increas- 
ing so  far  as  possible  the  number  of  the  troops."  The 
scene  of  hostilities  was  chiefly  in  Champagne  and  Picardy. 
The  forces  of  Spain  and  Lorraine  together  with  such  sol- 
diers as  Cond6  had  collected  amounted  to  about  30,000 
men,  while  the  French  under  Turenne  were  only  about 
16,000.  The  enemy  claimed  that  they  could  capture  the 
best  city  on  the  frontier  in  six  days,  and  that  they  would 
push  directly  on  to  Paris  and  dictate  terms  of  peace." 
Cond6  believed  that  if  he  appeared  before  that  city,  its  in- 
habitants would  again  rise  up  against  Mazarin  and  join 
hands  with  his  enemies.  He  was  mistaken  in  his  judg- 
ment, but  the  result  of  the  campaign  made  the  mistake  of 
little  importance. 

The  effective  action  of  the  allies  was  much  hindered  by 
bickerings  about  precedence  among  their  generals.  Cond6 
was  now  regularly  enlisted  in  the  service  of  Spain,  and  he 
and  the  archduke  had  bitter  quarrels  as  to  their  relative 
rank."  These  were  settled,  but  with  little  friendly  feeling, 
and  Fuensaldana,  the  Spanish  general,  was  impatient  of 
Condi's  dictation.  Turenne  marched  into  Champagne  and 
recaptured  the  important  position  of  Rethel.  *  The  Span- 
ish  invaded   Picardy,  and  desired   to    force  Turenne   to 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxvi.,  63.  *  Caillet  4  Lenet,  Mss.,  6716.,  63. 

'  Dis.  Veil.,  cxvi.,  45.     Lettres  de  Lenet. 

246 


WAJi   WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREA  TV  WITH  ENGLAND.    247 

a  battle  while  his  army  was  inferior  in  numbers.  But  he 
hung  closely  to  the  skirts  of  their  army,  hampering  their 
movements  and  occupying  such  strong  positions  that  they 
dared  not  attack  him.  Once  the  rashness  of  La  Fert6 
Seneterre,  who  had  been  made  a  marshal,  apparently  as 
the  reward  for  constant  blundering,  placed  his  command 
where  a  battle  could  have  been  compelled  with  great  ad- 
vantage for  the  Spanish.  Cond^  desired  to  attack  at  once, 
but  Fuensaldana  remonstrated  that  the  soldiers  were 
tired  of  marching  in  the  hot  weather  and  they  had  best 
wait  till  the  next  day.  By  the  morrow  Turenne  had  cor- 
rected the  mistakes  of  his  subordinate,  and  his  position 
was  such  that  Cond^  was  unwilling  to  attack  it. 

After  endeavoring  in  vain  to  obtain  some  advantage 
over  Turenne,  the  prince  at  last  contented  himself  with 
laying  siege  to  Rocroi.  It  was  there  he  had  become 
famous  by  his  first  battle  against  the  Spanish,  and  he  now 
attacked  the  place  as  the  general  of  a  Spanish  army.  It 
was  captured  after  a  siege  of  nearly  four  weeks,  and  Cond6 
long  held  it  as  a  base  of  operations  from  which  to  harry 
the  neighboring  country.  The  prince  was  now  sick  and 
the  soldiers  were  in  much  need,  having  scanty  food,  and 
many  of  the  cavalry  being  without  horses.  They  at- 
tempted nothing  more  during  this  campaign.  Turenne 
in  the  meantime  captured  Mouson,  and  after  that  Du 
Plessis  captured  Sainte  Menehould.  When  the  town 
was  ready  to  surrender  the  young  king  was  sent  for  at 
Chalons.  He  hurried  over  and  received  the  capitulation,, 
and  it  was  added  to  his  list  of  victories.  The  generals  had 
advised  against  the  siege  of  this  city.  It  was  late  in  the 
season  and  they  claimed  that  the  rigor  of  the  weather 
would  prevent  its  success.  But  Mazarin  was  resolved  on 
attempting  it,  and  it  proceeded  amid  constant  rains  and 
predictions  of  failure.  The  rigor  of  the  season,  the 
courage  of  a  well-supplied  garrison,  the  unfavorable 
opinion  of  generals,  all  yielded  to  the  fortune  of  the 
cardinal.'    Though  with  inferior  numbers,  the  French  had 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxvi.,  202. 


248      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

not  only  prevented  the  great  advantages  which  their  ene- 
mies hoped,  but  they  had  gained  several  important  places.' 

The  Duke  of  Lorraine  had  pursued  his  usual  course  dur- 
ing the  campaign,  assisting  Cond6  with  indifferent  zeal,  and 
carrying  on  active  negotiations  with  Mazarin.  The  Span- 
ish were  weary  of  so  uncertain  an  ally,  and  in  February, 
1654,  they  arrested  the  duke  and  sent  him  to  Spain.'  He 
remained  there  in  prison  until  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees. 
The  next  year  Mazarin  succeeded  in  obtaining  the 
services  of  his  army,  which  were  of  more  value  after  its 
general  was  gone. 

Terms  were  also  made  with  the  Count  of  Harcourt. 
Mazarin  justly  said,  that  giving  governors  of  provinces  the 
governments  of  strong  places  in  them  was  one  of  the 
most  serious  abuses  in  the  kingdom.'  Besides  the  author- 
ity which  Harcourt  had  as  governor  of  Alsace,  he  was 
himself  in  command  of  the  strong  city  of  Philipsburg.  To 
this  was  now  added  the  possession  of  Brisach,  a  place 
of  such  importance  that  its  loss  would  have  caused  serious 
danger  to  the  boundary  of  France  by  the  Rhine.  Har- 
court negotiated  with  the  Spanish,  who  offered  him 
a  large  price  for  the  place,  and  he  refused  the  liberal 
offers  which  Mazarin  made  him,  in  the  fear  that  the  count 
would  ally  himself  with  Spain  and  the  Emperor.  But  the 
cardinal  succeeded  in  undermining  him,  by  a  liberal  use  of 
money  among  the  mercenaries  who  composed  the  garri- 
sons of  Philipsburg  and  Brisach.  The  men  were  bought 
up  by  secret  agents.  The  soldiers  of  Philipsburg  refused 
to  obey  the  orders  of  Harcourt's  lieutenant,  and  the  garri- 
son at  Brisach  was  also  secured  for  the  king.     Harcourt 

'  This  campaign  is  described  in  Mem.  de  Turenne,  451-457.  York,  563- 
571.  Prince  de  Tarente,  148-164.  Du  Flessis,  437-440.  AH  four  took 
part  in  it. 

•  Dis.  Ven.,  cxvii,  9,  He  was  an  independent  prince,  and  his  arrest  was  a 
high-handed  act  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish  king.  But  it  was  justified  publicly 
by  detailing  the  ravages  committed  by  Lorraine's  soldiers  under  his  orders, 
and  showing  that  his  own  caprices  and  fluctuations  constantly  ruined  the 
plans  laid  by  the  allies.  The  real  cause  was  probably  the  discovery  of  his 
negotiations  with  Mazarin.  *  Mem.  de  Cosnac,  196. 


If^A/^   WITH  SPAIN  AND  THE  A  TV  WITH  ENGLAND.    249 

then  decided  to  make  terms.  He  received  5o,cxx)  livres  a 
year,  and  Charlevoix  received  100,000  livres  in  all.  They 
resigned  Brisach,  and  Harcourt  was  subsequently  to  give 
up  the  governments  of  Alsace  and  Philipsburg.' 

Mazarin  resolved  that  these  important  positions  should 
be  held  by  some  one  whom  he  could  trust.  He  had  already 
received  the  government  of  Brisach,  but  he  had  been  un- 
able to  get  possession.  He  now  put  a  trusty  lieutenant 
there  under  his  orders,  and  he  took  for  himself  the  gov- 
ernments of  Alsace  and  Philipsburg,  when  Harcourt 
finally  resigned  them.  He  had  done  the  same  with 
Brouage,  when  Daugnon  surrendered  that  place.  To  get 
rid  of  danger  from  turbulent  nobles  was  not  Mazarin's 
only  object  in  these  changes.  These  governments  con- 
ferred power,  and  they  also  yielded  large  revenues. 
Though  Mazarin  had  made  his  ministry  suflficiently 
profitable  to  build  palaces  and  gather  unrivalled  collec- 
tions of  luxury  and  art,  he  had  been  in  great  financial 
embarrassment  during  some  periods  of  the  Fronde.  If  his 
conduct  up  to  that  time  seemed  to  him  as  disinterested  as 
he  claimed,  he  had  certainly  gained  no  credit  or  popularity 
on  that  score.  He  resolved  now  to  build  up  a  fortune 
which  should  be  beyond  any  danger  of  loss.  The  most 
judicious  step  he  took  for  that  end  was  the  appointment 
of  Colbert  as  superintendent  of  his  property.  The  genius 
which  was  afterwards  to  rescue  the  finances  of  France 
from  the  disorders  and  corruption  in  which  they  were  in- 
volved, Colbert  first  used  in  building  up  a  gigantic  fortune 
for  Mazarin. 

The  cardinal  had  no  aptitude  for  such  matters,  and  was 
a  clumsy  financier  in  the  management  of  his  own  property, 

'  The  articles  of  this  treaty  are  printed  in  the  Gazette  for  1654,  601-6.  M. 
Cheruel,  t.  ii.,  139,  says  Harcourt  was  to  receive  150,000  livres  per  year.  He 
does  not  give  his  authority,  but  that  sum  seems  very  large  and  I  think  it  is  a 
mistake.  In  a  proposed  treaty  in  1653,  when  Harcourt  was  in  a  more  favor- 
able position,  Charlevoix  was  to  have  120,000  livres  and  Harcourt  500,000 
in  all.  Archives  du  Ministire  de  la  Guerre,  139.  150,000  livres  a  year 
seems  a  large  increase  for  the  government  to  have  made  in  its  offer,  when  it 
was  in  a  better  position. 


250       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

as  well  as  of  the  state.  He  usually  received  large  interest 
on  the  advances  he  made  to  the  public  treasury.  But  his 
zeal  was  so  great  in  the  success  of  his  plans,  that  he  at 
times  embarrassed  himself,  by  the  loans  he  made  in  the 
frequent  periods  when  there  was  not  money  on  hand  with 
which  to  pay  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  government,  and 
still  less  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  army.  Colbert  wrote 
him  in  165 1  that  in  borrowing  on  all  sides  to  help  the 
king,  he  had  brought  his  own  affairs  into  a  very  bad 
plight.'  The  minister  was  reproached  by  his  employ^  for 
his  looseness  in  the  management  of  his  estate.  "  If  I  had 
been  in  charge  of  your  affairs  from  the  beginning,"  he  said, 
"  I  would  not  have  allowed  the  horrible  waste  you  have 
made  of  your  property.  You  have  given  away  your  best 
benefices  and  created  great  pensions  on  those  which  are 
left.  Your  Eminence  needs  some  one  to  check  you  in 
your  immoderate  desire  to  dissipate  your  estate."  "Your 
affairs  are  ruined,"  he  wrote  again,  "  from  lack  of  order 
and  good  management." " 

Mazarin's  affairs,  when  he  was  in  exile,  were  in  such 
confusion  that  it  was  dif^cult  to  say  whether  he  was  worth 
any  thing,  but  after  he  was  again  securely  established  in 
power,  he  accumulated  governments  and  sinecures,  some 
of  which  increased  his  power,  and  all  of  which  increased 
his  wealth.  The  income  from  many  sources  was  gathered 
and  husbanded  by  Colbert,  until  he  made  the  cardinal  the 
richest  man  in  France.  No  detail  was  so  small  as  to  escape 
his  attention.  He  sent  to  the  minister  statements  of  the 
chickens  and  calves  on  a  farm,  and  reported  that  there  was 
abundance  of  vegetables  and  fresh  eggs.'  The  servants 
stole  a  great  deal  of  silver  plate,  and  he  confessed  that  this 
was  one  of  the  things  which  gave  him  the  most  trouble 
and  annoyance.*  Mazarin  received  from  him  frequent 
rebukes.  The  cardinal  did  not  pay  sufficient  attention 
to  the  matters  which  his  superintendent  desired  should 

'  Lettres  de  Colbert,  i.,  96. 

'  Colbert  i  Mazarin,  June  27,  1651.     Lettres,  i.,  96.     lb.,  118, 

•  lb.,  220.  *  lb.,  449. 


IFA/i  WITir  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    25  I 

receive  his  consideration.  Colbert  remonstrated  with  him 
about  the  cost  of  the  covers  for  the  mules,  and  complained 
bitterly  at  the  expenses  of  the  stable.' 

At  items  of  small  expense  he  was  less  disturbed.  Some 
authors  demanded  a  few  hundred  livres  for  publications  in 
praise  of  the  cardinal.  "  These  people,"  he  wrote,  "  seem 
very  much  in  need  of  money,  and  it  will  do  them  twice  as 
much  good  if  they  are  paid  promptly."  " 

Colbert  was  as  eager  for  himself  as  for  his  master.  He 
demanded  constantly  for  himself  and  his  family  offices, 
pensions,  any  thing  that  yielded  money.  Much  was 
refused,  many  favors  were  granted,  but  he  continued  his 
solicitations,  undisturbed  by  what  he  lost  and  unsatisfied 
by  what  he  received.'  He  was  greedy  for  himself,  greedy 
for  Mazarin,  and  greedy  for  France.  When  Colbert  at 
last  succeeded  in  overthrowing  Fouquet  in  his  career  of 
colossal  fraud,  and  became  himself  superintendent  of 
finances,  he  showed  in  the  service  of  his  country  the 
same  zeal  he  had  shown  for  the  minister.  He  restored 
order,  stopped  corruption,  and  brought  prosperity  out  of 
confusion  and  distress. 

Though  the  condition  of  the  country  was  much  im- 
proved, it  was  not  wholly  tranquil  nor  prosperous.  A 
tax  falling  on  butchers  was  imposed  early  in  the  year 
1653,  and  excited  such  discontent  among  that  numerous 
body,  that  they  declared  they  would  cease  butchering  and 
leave  the  people  without  meat.  The  government  deemed 
it  wise  to  limit  the  duration  of  the  tax  to  one  year.*  Com- 
plaints were  still  made  of  the  injury  done  in  some  of  the 
provinces  by  unpaid  soldiers.'  The  hatred  of  Mazarin,. 
which  was  felt  by  many,  was  too  deeply  rooted  to  be 
removed,  but  at  least  his  enemies  had  come  to  fear  him.* 
His  extraordinary  good  fortune  was  now  accompanied 
by  rigor  against  some  of  his  foes,  and  his  position  was 

'  7(5.,  416,  et pas.  •  lb.,  205. 

'  There  are  over  one  hundred  requests  for  abbeys,  benefices,  offices,  etc.^ 
for  himself  and  his  family,  in  his  letters  to  Mazarin  during  less  than  sevea 
years.  *  Dis.  Ven.,  cxvi.,  34,  45,  *  lb.,  75.  *  Ib.„  123. 


252      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Strengthened  when  most  of  the  popular  leaders  had 
been  driven  from  Paris,  and  others  feared  to  follow  their 
•example  lest  they  should  share  their  fate. 

In  the  winter  of  1654  Mazarin  allied  his  family  with  the 
most  illustrious  house  in  France.  "  All  the  great  nobles," 
wrote  Guy  Patin,  "  were  eager  to  marry  the  cardinal's 
nieces  and  enter  into  the  temple  of  fortune." '  The 
Prince  of  Conti  decided  that  such  would  be  a  more 
agreeable  lot  than  sharing  the  desperate  fortunes  of  his 
brother,  Cond6.  His  agent  made  overtures  for  an  alliance 
between  the  prince  and  Anne  Marie  Martinozzi.  There 
-were  still  negotiations  for  her  marriage  with  the  Duke  of 
Candale,  and  it  was  suggested  that  it  might  be  more  con- 
venient to  give  him  Olympe  Mancini.  Conti  sent  word 
that  this  change  need  cause  no  trouble ;  he  wished  to 
marry  the  cardinal,  and  one  niece  would  answer  as  well 
as  another.  He  was  finally  allotted  the  Martinozzi,  but 
the  dowry  allowed  her  was  so  inadequate  that  his 
agent  told  him  that  he  was  giving  himself  away  for  a 
song."  They  were  married  on  February  22d,  and  the 
bride  was  so  gorgeously  attired  and  the  preparations 
so  splendid,  that  it  was  said  the  wedding  of  the  king 
could  not  have  been  more  magnificent.  It  was  a  strange 
turn  of  fortune  that  thus  allied  the  daughter  of  a  simple 
Roman  gentleman  with  a  prince  not  far  removed  from 
the  throne  of  France.'  Conti  was  well  rewarded  for  the 
alliance.  He  was  given  the  command  of  the  army  of 
Catalonia  and  made  governor  of  Guienne. 

At  the  same  time  that  Conti  made  terms  with  fortune, 
Cond^  was  tried  by  default  for  high  treason.  He  was  de- 
clared to  have  forfeited  the  name  of  Bourbon  and  his  rank 
as  prince  of  the  blood,  and  all  his  property  was  confis- 

'  Lettres  de  Patin,  March  20,  1654,  i.,  216. 

'  "  On  vous  marie  au  dernier  deux."  Full  accounts  of  these  negotiations 
are  found  in  Mem.  de  Cosnac,  Conde's  confidential  agent,  131-150.  Cosnac 
afterwards  showed  the  cardinal  that  Conti's  net  income  was  400,000  francs, 
the  equivalent  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars,  and  that  sum,  he  said, 
•would  not  pay  his  expenses  for  six  months. — lb,,  194. 

*  Dis.  Ven.,  cxvi.,  255. 


}VAJ?  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    255 

cated.'  Cond6  was  as  discontented  in  the  service  of  Spain, 
as  he  had  been  in  that  of  France.  He  received  his  pay 
irregularly.  The  Spanish  were  jealous  of  him  and  thwarted 
all  his  plans  by  their  remissness  or  opposition.  They,  on 
the  other  hand,  felt  that  they  had  obtained,  at  very  high 
cost,  an  ally  whose  manners  were  overbearing,  whose 
strength  had  been  overestimated,  and  whose  fortune  de- 
serted him  when  he  was  on  their  side.  After  the  surren- 
der of  Bordeaux,  Cond6  had  no  party  in  arms  in  France. 
He  was  no  longer  the  head  of  a  rebellion,  but  merely  a 
discontented  general  in  exile,  and  their  minister  reckoned 
that  if  England  would  make  an  alliance  and  embark  Cond6 
again  in  Guienne,  not  the  least  advantage  would  be  that 
Spain  would  be  rid  of  one  whose  assistance  was  as  oner- 
ous as  it  was  uncertain." 

In  June,  1654,  Louis  XIV.  was  crowned  at  Rheims. 
There  the  kings  of  France  were  consecrated,  and  it  seemed 
a  fit  time  for  this  solemnity,  when  Louis'  armies  were 
victorious  and  his  subjects  were  tranquil.  The  ceremony 
contained  many  formalities  indicating  conceptions  of  the 
royal  office  which  no  longer  existed.  The  forms  were 
those  used  when  the  king  was  regarded  as  a  spiritual  as 
well  as  a  temporal  ruler  of  his  people.  They  suggested 
memories  of  Charlemagne  and  of  the  times  when  the 
acclamations  of  nobles  and  people  ratified  the  elevation 
of  their  leader.  The  twelve  peers,  who  had  originally 
owed  their  creation  to  the  remembrance  of  the  peers  of 
Charlemagne,  were  supposed  still  to  take  a  large  part  in 
the  crowning  of  the  king.  But  all  the  six  lay  peerages, 
the  dukedoms  of  Burgundy,  Normandy,  and  Aquitaine, 
the  counties  of  Flanders,  Champagne,  and  Toulouse,  had 
become  extinct,  and  their  places  were  filled  by  nobles 
who  officiated  as  their  representatives.  The  six  ecclesi- 
astical peerages  still  continued,  but  the  archbishop  of 
Rheims  was  a  layman  and  so  could  not  perform  the 
duties  of  his  office,  the  bishopric  of  Laon  was  vacant,. 

'  Extraits  Mem.  Andre  Ormesson,  679,  682,  689-91. 

*  Navarro  to  Cardenas,  March  3i,  1654,  published  by  Guizot. 


254         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

and  the  Bishop  of  Langres  was  infirm  and  unable  to  attend. 
The  functions  of  the  twelve  peers  seemed  still  more 
mythical,  when  nine  of  them  were  present  only  by  proxy, 
and  six  of  these  represented  imaginary  dignitaries.  The 
sword  was  in  like  manner  borne  by  an  imaginary  consta- 
ble, for  the  office  was  extinct. 

On  the  morning  of  the  7th,  the  representatives  of  the 
Bishop-Duke  of  Laon  and  the  Bishop-Count  of  Beauvais 
proceeded  to  the  chamber  where  Louis  was,  and  striking 
at  the  door,  demanded  the  king.  Twice  they  were  assured 
that  the  king  slept.  The  third  time  they  demanded  Louis 
XIV.,  son  of  the  great  Louis  XIIL  The  door  was  then 
opened  and  Louis  was  found  lying  on  his  bed,  as  if  sleep- 
ing. He  was  roused  and  escorted  to  the  church.  Four 
nobles  then  brought  from  the  abbey  of  Saint  Remy  the 
holy  vial  of  oil,  which  heaven  had  sent  to  Saint  Remy  for 
the  consecration  of  Clovis  and  of  his  successors.  The  Bis- 
hop of  Soissons,  as  the  representative  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Rheims,  crowned  the  king.  The  oaths  and  prayers  were 
of  that  solemn  eloquence,  which  is  found  in  the  ancient 
liturgies  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  king  first  swore  to 
preserve  all  the  privileges  of  the  Church.  The  bishop 
then  asked  those  who  were  present  if  they  accepted 
Louis  XIV.  for  their  king.  The  silence  which  followed 
the  inquiry  was  regarded  as  signifying  the  assent,  which 
was  no  longer  necessary.  The  king  then  swore  that  he 
would  redress  the  wrong,  administer  justice  and  mercy, 
and  seek  to  exterminate  all  heretics  from  the  land.  He 
then  received  the  sword.  The  bishop  blessed  it,  bade  him 
gird  it  about  his  loins  with  might,  and  prayed  that  it  might 
be  used  for  the  protection  of  the  widow  and  the  fatherless, 
and  to  still  the  raging  of  the  heathen.  The  king  placed  it 
on  the  altar  to  show  that  he  consecrated  it  to  God,  and  it 
was  then  given  back  to  him  and  put  in  the  hands  of  the 
■constable.  The  bishop  prayed  that  the  king  might  have 
all  spiritual  grace,  might  enjoy  the  fat  of  the  land,  the 
fruit  of  the  vine  and  the  olive-tree,  that  he  might  reign 
in    health    and    peace,    and    that   his   enemies   might  be 


WAJi  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    255 

•confounded.  The  prayers  of  fifty-six  saints  were  then 
asked  for  specifically.  After  that  the  bishop  consecrated 
the  king  with  the  holy  oil  in  seven  places.  He  was  then 
dressed  in  a  tunic  and  dalmatic  to  indicate  the  garments 
of  a  priest,  and  he  received  the  ring,  the  mitre,  the  scep- 
tre, and  the  hand  of  justice,  and  was  bidden  to  humble  the 
proud  and  exalt  the  lowly.  The  twelve  peers  were  then 
iiummoned,  and  Louis  was  crowned  with  the  crown  of 
Charlemagne.  It  was  adapted  for  an  heroic  age  and  was 
too  heavy  for  a  more  modern  one.  The  king  was  after- 
wards given  a  lighter  crown,  which  was  the  one  that  was 
Avorn.  He  was  seated  on  his  throne,  and  the  Bishop  of 
Soissons  first  presented  his  homage,  and  said  :  "  May  the 
king  live  for  ever."  The  other  peers  then  did  the  same, 
and  the  doors  of  the  church  were  thrown  open  to  the  peo- 
ple.' Their  acclamations  greeted  the  king.  Officers  scat- 
tered gold  pieces  among  them,  and  six  hundred  pigeons 
were  let  loose  in  the  church.  The  celebration  of  mass 
followed,  and  after  the  ceremony  at  the  church  there  was 
the  royal  feast.  On  the  9th,  the  king  exercised  the  sacred 
power  which  he  received  from  his  consecration,  by  touch- 
ing over  two  thousand  five  hundred  persons  afflicted  with 
scrofula.  Officers  followed  him  and  gave  to  each  one  a 
.sum  of  money,  and  the  official  record  says  that  nearly  all 
of  the  sufferers  were  entirely  cured  of  their  malady.* 

The  campaign  of  1654  began  soon  after  the  king  had 
been  crowned.  Considerable  armies  were  sent  both  to 
Italy  and  Catalonia,  but  the  actions  of  importance  were 
on  the  eastern  borders  of  France  and  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries. On  the  19th  of  June  the  French  invested  Stenai,  a 
city  of  much  strategic  importance  in  Lorraine,  and  one  of 

'  Saint  Simon  criticised  this  procedure  as  contrary  to  the  theory  of  the 
office  and  to  ancient  custom.  He  said  the  people  should  have  been  admitted 
into  the  church  before  the  consecration,  that  their  consent  might  be  asked  to 
the  choice  of  the  sovereign. 

'  The  account  of  the  king's  consecration  is  found  in  "  Sacre  et  Couronne- 
ment  de  Louis  XIV.,"  published  by  the  chapter  at  Rheims,  1654  ;  also  in  the 
Gazelle,  1654,  577  el  seq  ,  the  Venetian  despatches,  etc.  The  Venetian 
minister  complained  bitterly  of  the  expense  he  was  put  to  from  attending 
the  ceremony  in  the  manner  required  by  his  position. 


256      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

the  few  places  still  belonging  to  the  Prince  of  Cond^. 
Louis  XIV.  accompanied  the  armies,  and  he  took  an 
active  part  in  these  campaigns.  Though  as  yet  too  youngs 
to  exercise  control,  he  attended  the  councils  of  war,  his 
presence  animated  the  soldiers,  and  he  was  fond  of  the 
moderate  fatigue  and  danger  to  which  the  king  was  al- 
lowed to  be  exposed.  Mazarin  usually  took  Louis  with 
him  and  inculcated  in  him  a  love  of  arms,  which  was 
manly,  though  perhaps  unfortunate  in  his  future  career. 
Those  courtiers  pleased  Louis  best  who  addressed  him  as 
the  most  warlike  of  monarchs,  and  he  acquired,  from  tak- 
ing part  in  campaigns  conducted  by  such  a  soldier  as 
Turenne,  some  knowledge  of  the  art  of  war. 

He  now  demanded  a  prompt  surrender  from  the  com- 
mander of  Stenai.  That  officer  replied  that  he  regretted 
to  disobey  his  sovereign,  the  guns  should  not  be  pointed 
against  the  quarter  of  the  camp  where  the  king  was,  but 
he  held  his  place  under  the  Prince  of  Cond6,  and  he  could 
surrender  it  only  by  his  order.'  Cond^  and  the  Spanish  met 
this  movement  by  the  attack  of  a  much  more  important 
place,  the  city  of  Arras,  the  strongest  and  most  considera- 
ble position  in  Artois,  It  was  thought  that  the  French 
would  abandon  the  siege  of  Stenai  in  order,  if  possible,  to 
save  Arras,  but  they  continued  in  their  entrenchments, 
and  the  attention  of  all  Europe  was  turned  to  the  fate  of 
those  two  important  places. 

Eight  thousand  men  were  left  about  Stenai,  which  had 
but  a  small  garrison,  and  i8,cxx),  under  Turenne,  marched 
to  Arras  in  order  to  throw  relief  into  the  town.  Man\- 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Arras  were  quite  as  well  inclined 
to  the  Spanish  as  the  French  rule,  and  the  garrison 
had  to  guard  against  the  citizens  as  well  as  the  enemy. 
About  32,000  men  were  besieging  it  under  the  command 
of  Cond^  and  Fuensaldagne,  and  Turenne  was  in  no  con- 
dition for  a  pitched  battle.  He  attempted  to  cut  off  the 
convoys  which  brought  supplies,  and  this  caused  a  series 
of  small  encounters.     Supplies  were  brought  by  parties  of 

'  Mazarin  ^  Le  Tellier,  Mss.  4209.     Dis.  Ven.,  cxvii.,  146. 


tVA/d  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    257 

1,000  or  1,200  men,  and  in  the  wide  open  plains  which 
surround  Arras,  it  was  difficult  to  intercept  them.  One  of 
these  parties  met  a  strange  fate.  A  regiment  of  cavalry- 
was  proceeding  to  the  camp,  each  man  carrying  a  bag  of  pow- 
der behind  him.  One  of  the  men  lighted  a  pipe  of  tobacco, 
and  a  lieutenant  noticing  it  struck  it  from  his  mouth.  The 
drunken  soldier  pulled  out  his  pistol  and  fired,  and  the  bul- 
let went  into  a  bag  of  powder  and  ignited  it,  and  this 
caused  the  explosion  of  the  other  bags.  Very  few  of  the 
regiment  escaped.  The  light  and  noise  of  the  explosion 
far  off  on  the  plains  was  seen  and  heard  with  amazement 
by  the  armies  camped  near  Arras,  and  the  next  day,  the 
burned  remains  of  the  men  and  horses  was  a  melancholy- 
sight  even  for  those  accustomed  to  warfare. 

In  the  meantime  the  siege  of  Stenai  proceeded,  its  gov- 
ernor making  a  gallant  resistance.  The  young  Vauban 
was  among  the  besiegers,  and  here  began  the  career  in 
which  he  was  to  become  famous  as  an  engineer  and  a  cap- 
turer  of  cities.  By  August  5th  the  French  had  succeeded 
in  blowing  up  so  much  of  one  of  the  bastions  that  twelve 
men  could  enter  abreast.'  The  garrison  could  now  do  no 
more  than  sell  their  lives  dearly,  but  the  king  retracted 
the  threats  he  had  made  that  they  should  have  no  quarter 
unless  they  surrendered  promptly,  and  granted  them  hon- 
orable terms.  On  August  6th  the  garrison  marched  out 
with  drums  beating  and  banners  flying,  but  the  salutes 
fired  from  Turennc's  camp  announced  to  those  besieged 
at  Arras  that  Stenai  had  at  last  fallen,  and  they  were 
answered  joyfully  by  the  firing  of  cannon  from  the  city. 
Two  thousand  men  had  fallen  at  the  siege  of  Stenai,  and 
the  rest  marched  at  once  to  reinforce  the  army  under 
Turenne.  Cond6,  on  receiving  this  bad  news,  made  a  vig- 
orous attack  on  some  of  the  outworks  of  Arras  and  cap- 
tured them.  His  men  suffered  severely  from  the  grenades 
thrown  by  those  within,  which  were  of  a  form  newly  de- 
vised by  some  soldier  of  Flanders.  Cond6  led  them  with 
his   usual    bravery,  but   behind    the    outworks   which   he 

'  Mazarin  a  Le  Tellier,  August  6th.     Mss.  4209.,  374. 


258       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHEUEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

captured,  the  besieged  had  thrown  up  new  fortifications 
to  protect  the  bastion.  Supplies,  however,  were  begin- 
ning to  become  scarce,  and  the  place  could  not  hold  out 
many  days  longer.  The  Spanish  had  constructed  formid- 
able entrenchments  about  the  city,  and  Hocquincourt, 
La  Fert6,  and  others  declared  that  any  attempt  to  break 
their  lines  would  result  in  failure.  But  Mazarin  was  not 
afraid  of  the  chances  of  battle,  and  he  insisted  that  an 
effort  should  be  made  to  save  the  place.  Turenne 
thought  it  was  feasible  to  break  through  the  lines,  and 
among  the  few  who  were  of  the  same  opinion  was  the 
Duke  of  York,  who  also  took  a  gallant  part  in  the  execu- 
tion of  the  plan.'  Whatever  his  faults  when  he  became 
James  II.  of  England,  the  Duke  of  York  during  the  seven 
years  that  he  served  in  the  French  army  showed  himself  a 
brave  and  skilful  officer. 

The  army  started  its  march  on  August  24th,  on  a 
fair,  clear  night,  but  the  moon  passed  under  the  clouds 
shortly  before  they  reached  the  Spanish  lines.  Their  ap- 
proach was  not  noticed  until  the  infantry  uncovered  the 
lighted  matches  for  their  guns,  just  before  they  arrived 
at  the  entrenchments.  The  wind  had  risen  and  the 
lights,  amid  the  darkness  of  the  night,  seemed  a  formida- 
ble and  prodigious  illumination.  Three  false  attacks  were 
made  on  the  lines,  but  Turenne  conducted  the  real  en- 
deavor to  break  through  the  lines,  at  one  part  of  the 
entrenchments.  It  was  entirely  successful.  The  enemy 
were  surprised  and  made  an  invalorous  resistance.  The 
French  lost  but  a  few  hundred  men.  They  took  three 
thousand  prisoners,  sixty-three  pieces  of  cannon,  and  a 

'  The  Venetian  ambassador  wrote  home  an  account  derived  from  some  one 
present  at  Arras,  and  says  that  Turenne  also  advised  against  the  assault 
upon  the  lines,  but  that  Mazarin  insisted  upon  it  against  the  opinion  of  all. 
The  Duke  of  York  says  that  Turenne  favored  it,  and  his  memoirs  are  the 
most  valuable  and  accurate  authorities  for  the  campaigns  in  which  he  took 
part.  Mazarin's  letters  say  nothing  of  Turenne's  opposing  this  plan,  and  it 
is  unlikely  the  cardinal  would  have  overruled  his  views.  Mazarin,  however, 
here  and  at  many  times,  was  entitled  to  much  credit  for  his  resolution  to  en- 
deavor to  accomplish  something  with  the  armies,  in  opposition  to  the  half- 
hearted or  disloyal  advice  of  many  of  the  generals. 


JFy^i?  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    259 

great  amount  of  baggage,  and  only  the  desire  of  the 
soldiers  for  plunder  prevented  their  pressing  the  victory 
still  further.  Arras  was  relieved,  and  the  Spanish  army 
abandoned  their  entrenchments  and  marched  towards 
Cambrai.' 

Turenne  did  not  hazard  any  attack  upon  the  army  un- 
der the  command  of  Conde,  The  French  marched  through 
part  of  Flanders,  meeting  no  opposition,  and  came  within 
sight  of  Brussels,  but  they  attempted  no  further  undertak- 
ing during  this  year  except  the  capture  of  some  small 
places.  The  raising  of  the  siege  of  Arras  was,  however, 
one  of  the  critical  stages  of  the  war.  Apart  from  the 
great  importance  of  Arras,  it  was  feared  that  its  loss  might 
induce  Cromwell  to  turn  his  guerrilla  warfare  upon  the 
French  marine  into  an  open  war,  and  to  accept  the  offers 
which  the  Spanish  had  long  been  making  him.  There 
was  a  large  discontented  element  at  Paris,  and  many 
hoped  that  Arras  might  be  captured  by  Cond^,  lest  its 
relief  should  add  to  Mazarin's  authority  and,  by  continu- 
ing the  war,  increase  the  burden  of  taxation."  Serious  in- 
ternal complications  might  have  followed  the  loss  of  the 
city.  But  the  failure  of  the  Spanish  at  Arras  quieted 
these,  and  rendered  it  sure  that  the  French  could  in  the 
future  carry  on  aggressive  campaigns  instead  of  having  to 
repel  invasions  of  their  own  territory. 

Another  expedition  attempted  by  Mazarin  was  less  suc- 
cessful than  the  campaign  in  Flanders.  Refugees  and 
agents  reported  to  him  that  Naples  was  again  ripe  for 
revolt,  and  that  if  a  French  fleet  proceeded  there  the 
Spanish  might  be  driven  from  the  city.  The  cardinal 
<lecided  on  the  expedition,  and  from  some  extraordinary 
motive  he  assigned  the  command  of  it  to  the  Duke  of 
Guise.  Guise  had  recently  been  released  from  imprison- 
ment in  Spain  at  Condi's  solicitation,  and  upon  his  agree- 

'  The  authorities  for  the  sieges  of  Stenai  and  Arras  are  Mem.  de  Tu- 
renne, 459-466  ;  York,  573-587  ;  Letters  of  Mazarin  to  Le  Tellier,  Mss. 
Bib.  Nat.,  4209.,  340-3S7  ;  Dis.  Ven.,  cxvii,  133,  168,  192,  et  seq.,  et  pas- 
jim  ;  Aff.  Etr.  France,  893.,  175,  187.  '  Dis.  Ven.,  cxvii,  239. 


26o       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

ment  that  he  would  undertake  nothing  against  that  coun- 
try in  Naples.  It  was  not  strange  that  the  duke  should 
desert  Cond^  and  be  willing  to  break  his  promise,  but  why 
Mazarin  should  have  risked  such  an  expedition  to  a  man 
whose  character  and  abilities  he  estimated  so  justly  and 
estimated  so  low,  is  incomprehensible.  It  may  have  been 
hoped  that  Guise  still  had  some  following  in  Naples, 
but  generals  of  rank,  who  lost  campaigns  by  inefficiency, 
were  often  sent  back  to  repeat  their  blunders.' 

The  fleet  was  equipped  in  a  very  dilatory  manner.  The 
captains  had  charge  of  preparing  and  furnishing  their  own 
ships,  and  such  a  system  naturally  caused  much  delay. 
Imprisonment  had  not  sobered  the  character  of  its 
leader.  He  had  made  for  him  robes  that  might  be  appro- 
priate for  a  king,  and  25  violinists  were  hired  and  taken 
along,  in  imitation  of  the  musicians  who  played  for  the 
king  of  France.  He  sold  his  chateau  at  Meudon,  and 
flattered  by  fair  hopes  prepared  to  spend  his  days  at 
Naples.  On  October  5th  the  expedition  sailed,  consist- 
ing of  23  vessels,  6  galleys,  and  6,000  men.  Its  direc- 
tions were  to  disembark  in  Calabria,  and  it  was  hoped 
there  would  be  a  rising  among  the  people  of  that  district. 
But  the  expedition  met  much  stormy  weather  and  at  last 
landed  at  Castellamare.  Guise  hoped  that  the  Neapoli- 
tans would  rise  in  revolt  when  it  was  known  that  their 
former  leader  was  so  near,  but  not  a  person  in  the  city 
showed  any  desire  to  start  a  movement  in  behalf  of  the 
Duke  of  Guise.  The  Spanish  met  him  with  superior 
forces.  The  only  competent  French  general  in  the  ex- 
pedition was  killed,  and  after  his  death  Guise  at  once 
reembarked  his  men  and  sailed  back  to  France.  He 
reached  there  on  December  21st  with  no  great  loss,  and 
the  expedition  was  a  ridiculous  failure.  One  of  Mazarin's 
most  intelligent  agents  wrote  him  that  the  force  sent  out 
was  too  small,  it  was  poorly  provisioned,  it  was  delayed 

'  Montglat,  303,  says:  Guise  persuaded  Mazarin  that  he  had  valuable 
political  relations  at  Naples.  The  Venetian  ambassador  thought  favorably 
of  the  expedition,  cxvii.,  243. 


^Vyl/?   WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREA  TY  WITH  ENGLAND.    261 

until  the  Spanish  had  eight  months  to  prepare  for  it, 
landing  at  Castellamare  was  fatal  to  any  chance  of  suc- 
cess, and  the  Duke  of  Guise  was  viewed  with  such  contempt 
in  that  country,  that  from  the  day  he  was  chosen  as  leader 
it  was  felt  that  the  enterprise  was  doomed  to  failure.' 

Guise  had  no  occasion  to  use  his  royal  robes,  but  he 
furnished  amusement  on  his  return,  by  his  endeavors  to 
obtain  some  other  property.  His  extraordinary  and 
fantastic  passion  for  Mile,  de  Pons  has  been  spoken  of. 
Although  he  had  already  a  wife,  he  had  signed  a  contract 
of  marriage  with  Mile,  de  Pons,  and  spent  upon  her 
as  much  as  200,000  a  year.  But  his  affection  had  not 
survived  absence  and  imprisonment,  and  the  duke  now 
brought  a  lawsuit  against  her,  claiming  she  had  stolen 
from  him  a  pair  of  diamond  earrings  and  some  tapestry 
worked  in  silver  and  gold. 

His  former  lady-love  claimed  that  these  were  gifts,  and 
Guise  retorted  that  they  were  thefts.  The  parties  were 
directed  to  appear  before  the  court.  They  indulged  in 
violent  reproofs  and  invectives  against  each  other,  and 
the  conflicting  evidence  furnished  of  their  former  rela- 
tions and  pledges  was  listened  to  by  the  judges  with 
amusement  and  amazement.* 

Mazarin's  satisfaction  at  the  victory  of  Arras  had  been 
dampened  by  the  news  that  his  old  enemy.  Cardinal  Retz, 
was  again  at  liberty.  Retz,  after  his  arrest,  had  been  kept 
closely  confined  in  the  prison  of  Vincennes,  suflFering  both 
from  his  imprisonment,  and  from  the  feeling  that  the  pub- 
lic was  very  little  disturbed  by  it.  The  king  demanded 
his  resignation  of  the  coadjutorship,  but  Retz  was  unwill- 
ing to  relinquish  the  office  which  gave  him  his  influence 
in  Paris.  While  these  negotiations  were  pending,  the 
death  of  his  uncle  made  Retz  a  much  more  serious  embar- 

>  Thevenot  i  Mazarin,  Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  894.,  3.  The  accounts  of  this  ex- 
pedition  are  given  in  Thevenot's  letters,  Aff.  Etr.  Rom.,  126.  Dis.  Ven., 
cxvii.,  115,  232,  330-336,  et passim.  Montglat,  303.  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  10,- 
276. 

*  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  10,276.,  407,  408.  "  Qui  ne  penvent  estre  entendus  de 
compagnie  sans  estonnement  et  sans  raillereye." 


262      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

rassment  to  the  government.  On  the  21st  of  March^ 
1654,  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  died,  and  the  coadjutor 
succeeded  to  his  dignity.  He  had  signed  a  procuration 
to  be  ready  for  this  accident.'  The  chapter  of  Notre 
Dame  met  at  seven  in  the  morning,  three  hours  after  the 
archbishop  had  died,  recognized  Retz  as  the  lawful  in- 
cumbent of  the  see,  and  sent  a  petition  to  the  king  that 
their  archbishop  might  be  at  once  released  to  officiate  at 
the  solemnities  of  Holy  Week.  His  procureur  was  re- 
ceived, and  the  chapter  afterwards  recognized  the  authority 
of  the  vicars  appointed  by  him.  At  ten  Le  Tellier  sum- 
moned the  chapter  by  the  king's  command,  in  order  to- 
have  it  take  possession  of  the  archbishopric  as  vacant^ 
but  its  action  had  already  been  taken  and  nothing  more 
could  be  done. 

The  government  was  greatly  annoyed  by  this  adroitness 
of  the  former  coadjutor  and  his  friends,  and  it  declared 
that  Retz,  not  having  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
king,  could  not  be  recognized  as  Archbishop  of  Paris. 
At  the  same  time  it  was  announced  that  he  would  not  be 
allowed  to  take  this,  until  he  had  been  tried  and  vindicated 
from  the  charge  of  high  treason  made  against  him.'  That 
the  oath  to  the  king  should  be  taken,  before  the  incumbent 
was  entitled  to  enter  upon  his  charge,  was  claimed  to  be 
the  doctrine  of  the  Gallican  Church,  but  Retz's  adherents,^ 
among  whom  were  most  of  the  clergy  of  Paris,  insisted 
that  on  the  death  of  his  predecessor  he  became  invested 
with  the  office,  and  that  because  he  was  kept  in  prison 
and  not  allowed  to  take  the  oath  to  the  king,  he  was  none 
the  less  the  lawful  Archbishop  of  Paris.  The  king,  it  was 
said,  was  laying  his  hand  upon  the  altar  and  following  in 
the  footsteps  of  Henry  VHI.  The  two  vicars  appointed 
in  Retz's  stead  proceeded  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the 
diocese.  His  signature  to  their  appointment  had  been 
skilfully  forged,  as  his  friends  had  no  opportunity  to  get 
it  from  him. 


'  Joly,  92.      It  is  said  the  signature  was  a  forgery,  but  it  was  a  forgery 
committed  by  his  approval.  'Arret,  March  22,  1654. 


fVA/f  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREA  TY  WITH  ENGLAND.    263 

The  holy  sacrament  was  exposed  and  frequent  prayers 
were  offered  in  all  the  churches  of  Paris  for  the  liberty  of 
their  archbishop.  One  priest  added  to  the  prayers  of  the 
church  a  special  petition  for  deliverance  from  that  wicked 
and  crafty  man  who  kept  their  pastor  a  prisoner.' 

Such  disturbances  increased  the  desire  of  the  govern- 
ment to  obtain  Retz's  resignation.  His  resolution  was 
somewhat  broken  by  fifteen  months*  imprisonment,  and 
he  feared  that  he  might  be  sent  into  still  more  rigorous 
confinement.  He  intended  also,  as  soon  as  he  was  at 
liberty,  to  claim  that  any  resignation  was  invalid,  because 
obtained  by  duress.  On  March  28th,  therefore,  he  resigned 
his  archbishopric,  upon  receiving  in  exchange  seven  abbeys, 
yielding  in  all  120,000  livres.  This  resignation  would 
only  become  valid  by  the  consent  of  the  Pope,  but  when 
that  was  received,  he  was  to  have  the  abbeys  and  be  re- 
stored to  liberty.*  In  the  meantime  he  received  some 
alleviation  in  his  lot,  for  he  was  transferred  to  the  castle 
of  Nantes,  allowed  every  luxury  and  the  society  of  his 
friends,  and  comedies  were  acted  for  him  almost  every 
night.  It  was  claimed  that  he  gave  his  word  of  honor 
that  he  would  not  attempt  any  escape,  but  as  he  was  still 
guarded,  the  parole  would  not  have  been  regarded  even 
by  a  less  elastic  conscience.* 

His  resignation  of  the  archbishopric  was  sent  to  Rome, 
but,  as  might  have  been  expected,  the  Pope  refused  to 
accept  an  act  signed  by  a  bishop  held  in  bonds.*  Innocent 
X.  hated  Mazarin  intensely,  and  his  friendship  for  Retz 
was  increased  by  the  attacks  now  made  on  him.  The 
cardinal's  friends  suggested  that  his  liberty  could  only  be 
secured  by  the  acceptance  of  the  resignation,  but  the 
Pope  replied  that  the  laws  of  the  church  forbade  such  an 
act,  and  if  Retz  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks,  he 
must  endure  it  with  patience.* 


'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxvii.,  37.     Joly,  93.  •  M^m.  de  Retz,  iv.,  188-199. 

*  Mazarin  claimed  that  Retz  promised  he  would  not  attempt  to  escape, 
even  if  he  had  only  to  walk  out  of  an  open  door. — Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  893.,  126. 

*  Lettre  i  Brienne,  May  11,  1654.  *  Joly,  98. 


264       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

The  Marshal  of  La  Meilleraie  was  Retz's  jailor  at 
Nantes,  but  kept  a  very  careless  guard  over  his  prisoner. 
Retz's  friends  had  the  opportunity  to  concert  plans  with 
him,  and  improved  it.  On  August  8th  he  walked  on  the 
ramparts  of  the  castle,  as  was  his  custom.  Two  of  his 
attendants  with  a  bottle  of  wine  occupied  the  attention 
of  the  guards  who  were  near.  The  cardinal  fastened  his 
red  gown  on  a  pole  between  two  battlements,  that  the 
sentinels  might  suppose  he  was  standing  and  surveying 
the  country.  He  then  slipped  down  by  a  rope,  was  re- 
ceived by  his  friends,  and  made  his  escape.' 

It  had  been  intended  to  push  directly  on  to  Paris.  The 
siege  of  Arras  was  then  progressing,  and  its  result  was 
doubtful.  Retz  hoped  that  he  might  take  possession  of 
his  archbishopric,  rally  his  parishioners  about  him,  and 
bid  defiance  to  the  government.  It  is  not  probable  that 
any  such  programme  would  have  succeeded.  Some  of 
the  old  bitterness  remained,  but  the  government  became 
constantly  more  powerful,  and  after  Arras  was  relieved 
the  warlike  archbishop  would  have  found  his  position  an 
embarrassing  one. 

Any  such  design  was  prevented  by  an  accident.  Retz 
was  thrown  from  his  horse,  and  his  shoulder  was  so  badly 
broken  that  he  suffered  from  it  for  years.  The  pain  and 
weakness  this  caused  interfered  with  his  journey.  Soldiers 
of  the  Marshal  of  La  Meilleraie  were  already  in  search  of 
the  fugitives,  and  Retz  made  his  way  to  the  sea-shore, 
embarked  in  a  boat  in  the  disguise  of  a  soldier,  and  finally 
reached  Spain.  As  soon  as  he  made  his  escape,  he  sent  a 
revocation  of  his  resignation  as  archbishop,  and  he  notified 
the  chapter  of  Notre  Dame  of  his  liberty."  His  clergy  re- 
ceived the  news  with  great  exultation.  The  "  Te  Deum  " 
was  sung  at  Notre  Dame  in  honor  of  his  escape.  The 
great  bell  rang  to  express  their  joy,  and  bonfires  blazed  at 
night."     The  Pope  wrote  the  fugitive,  stating  his  pleasure 

*  Joly,  loi,  102.     Retz,  iv.,  2CK>-2i2. 
*Joly,  102-108. 

•  Serrien  i.  Mazarin,  Aug.  14th.     Dis.  Ven,,  cxvii.,  175. 


WylJ?  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    265 

that  the  succor  of  heaven  had  dcHvered  the  cardinal  from 
the  misfortunes  in  which  he  had  been  involved.' 

His  escape  was  exceedingly  annoying  to  Mazarin  and 
the  government,  and  they  proceeded  against  the  arch- 
bishop with  a  severity  that  seemed  like  persecution.  His 
vicars  were  forbidden  to  exercise  their  functions  further, 
and  were  sent  from  Paris,  and  the  chapter  was  ordered  to 
take  possession  of  the  archbishopric,  which  the  king  re- 
solved to  treat  as  vacant.  Five  of  the  canons,  who  had 
been  most  active  in  their  zeal  for  their  bishop,  were  or- 
dered to  leave  Paris,  and  those  who  were  left,  intimidated 
by  this  act  of  vigor,  named  grand  vicars  to  administer  the 
spiritual  affairs  of  the  diocese."  Mazarin  contemplated 
also  proceeding  against  Retz  for  high  treason  before  the 
Parliament  of  Paris.  That  body  would  have  entertained 
the  charge,  but  such  a  measure  would  have  been  regarded 
as  a  grave  infringement  upon  the  privileges  of  the  clergy. 
Mazarin  had  no  desire  to  excite  a  grievance  which  would 
have  united  the  clergy  of  France  against  the  government, 
and  would,  perhaps,  have  reduced  the  annual  gift  which 
they  voted  for  the  king.' 

The  bishops  of  Paris  assembled,  at  the  secret  instiga- 
tion of  Mazarin's  agents,  and  remonstrated  against  any 
proceedings  being  taken  before  a  lay  court  against  a 
cardinal  of  the  church.  A  gracious  answer  was  returned 
to  their  protests,  and  the  proceedings  before  the  Parlia- 
ment were  abandoned.* 

In  the  meantime  the  illustrious  martyr  was  making  his 
way  through  Spain.  He  sold  the  cargo  of  sardines  which 
the  boat  had  carried,  and  raised  a  little  money  with  which 
to  buy  clothes  more  fitting  his  dignity.  He  declined  re- 
ceiving aid  from  the  Spanish  government,  lest  he  might 
give  cause  for  some  accusation  of  treason  by  dealing  with 
foreign  enemies.  He  was,  however,  hospitably  received, 
and  travelled   as  comfortably  as  was    possible  with  his 

'  Letter  of  Sept.  30,  1654.  •  Seguier  an  Roi,  Aug.  31st. 

'  Mazarin  i  Fouquet.     Mss.  Bibl.  Nat.,  23,302.,  139  et  seq.,  Oct.  8th. 
*  lb.,  Dis.  Ven.,  cxvii.,  348. 


266      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

broken  shoulder,  in  a  country  where  inns  were  sO' 
lacking  that  voyagers  had  to  carry  with  them  all  that 
they  needed,  even  to  their  beds.  He  avoided  Aragon, 
because  the  pest  was  raging  there,  and  went  to  the  island 
of  Majorca,  where  he  found  that  the  women  were  all  of  an 
extraordinary  beauty.  The  only  ugly  woman  he  saw  was 
the  wife  of  the  viceroy,  who  came  from  Aragon,  and  she 
served  as  a  contrast  for  the  sixty  beautiful  ladies  who' 
attended  her.  The  archbishop  had  concerts  given  him 
at  the  convents,  and  he  declared  that  the  singing  of  the 
nuns  was  passionate  and  delicious. 

He  left  such  pleasures  and  sailed  for  Italy.  After 
dangers  from  storms  and  pirates  he  reached  there,  and  on 
November  28,  1654,  he  arrived  at  Rome.  He  was  well 
received  by  the  Pope.  His  revenues  in  France  were 
entirely  cut  off  by  the  government  and  he  was  obliged 
to  rely  on  the  bounty  of  his  friends.  He  claimed,  how- 
ever, that  it  was  necessary,  in  order  to  sustain  his  struggle^ 
that  he  should  live  with  much  splendor,  and  by  this  he 
also  gratified  his  natural  taste  for  display.  Six  tables 
were  always  served  at  his  palace,  and  the  viands  were  such 
as  found  favor  with  epicurean  bishops  and  cardinals.  He 
gave  large  sums  to  the  poor  and  thus  gained  the  good-will 
of  the  common  people.' 

The  government  resolved  to  carry  on  the  contest  against 
Retz  before  the  Pope  and,  as  there  was  no  French  ambas- 
sador at  Rome,  Lionne  was  sent  there  as  a  special  envoy. 
Innocent  X.  was  very  infirm,  and  Mazarin  wished  also  to 
prevent  a  successor  being  chosen  at  the  next  conclave 
who  should  be  so  bitterly  hostile  to  himself.  Lionne  was 
to  obtain  from  the  Pope,  if  possible,  the  appointment  of 
an  ecclesiastical  commission,  to  be  composed  of  French 
bishops  who  would  try  Retz  upon  the  charges  made 
against  him  by  the  king."  A  letter  was  sent  to  the 
Pope,  in  which  all  of  Retz's  crimes  were  detailed.  He 
was  charged  with    having  stirred   up  sedition,  preached 

'  Joly,  102-I14.     Retz,  iv.,  220-250. 
•Aff.  Etr.  Rome,  T26.,  275.     Instructions  &  Lionne. 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREA  TV  WITH  ENGLAND.    267 

rebellion,  and  with  being  a  criminal,  incorrigible  and 
utterly  abandoned.  Against  so  notorious  an  evil  liver 
the  Pope  was  asked  to  grant  justice,  and  to  appoint  com- 
missioners that  the  truth  of  these  charges  might  be  estab- 
lished.' 

Innocent  X.  was  little  affected  by  such  accusations. 
He  declared  them  to  be  the  voice  of  Louis,  but  the  hand 
of  Mazarin  ;  the  hostility  of  the  minister  imagined  Retz's 
crimes,  but  in  truth  he  was  purer  than  a  baby  after  its 
baptism.*  Retz  issued  a  letter  reciting  the  wrongs  he  had 
suffered,  which  was  expressed  with  great  ingenuity  and  elo- 
quence. He  had  been  kept  in  prison  without  forms  of  law, 
in  chains  that,  at  the  same  time,  were  fetters  upon  the  lib- 
erties of  the  Galilean  Church.  No  accusation  had  been 
brought  against  him  during  twenty  months  of  imprison- 
ment. His  enemies  had  sought  to  despoil  him  of 
the  dignity,  the  possession  of  which  was  his  only  crime. 
When  God  had  granted  him  deliverance,  the  archbishop 
of  Paris  had  been  treated  in  the  city  of  his  bishopric,  as  if 
he  were  a  bandit  or  a  captain  of  robbers.  Infamous  pla- 
cards were  posted  in  the  streets.  All  the  officers  of  the 
kingdom  were  ordered  to  seize  one  who  was  a  prince 
of  the  church  and  a  minister  of  God,  as  if  he  were  a 
brigand  and  a  public  enemy.  His  enemies  had  used  the 
sacred  name  of  the  king  in  their  violent  measures,  but 
it  was  plain  that  it  was  not  the  monarch,  but  those  who 
bore  a  personal  hatred,  who  had  devised  these  acts.  Be- 
cause his  person  was  free  from  their  malice,  they  now 
attacked  his  estate,  his  friends,  and  his  church.  His 
bishopric  was  declared  vacant,  as  if  the  laws  of  the 
church  had  established  that  her  archbishops  could  be 
deprived  of  their  charges  at  the  will  of  a  favorite. 
Though  with  inflexible  fidelity  to  the  king,  he  would 
also  stand  constant  for  the  sacred  rights  of  religion  and 
for  the  rank  which  God  had  given  him,  and  he  trusted 

'  Lettre  du  Roy  au  Pape,  Dec.  I3,  1654.     lb.,  126. 

'  Lettre  d'un  Cardinal  ^  Mazarin.  Ih..  126.  "  Piu  puro  die  un  bambino 
d'appoi  battesimo," 


268       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

that  soon  His  Majesty  would  listen  to  the  complaints 
of  an  oppressed  church  and  check  those  who,  under  the 
false  pretence  of  advantage  to  the  kingdom  of  France, 
were  doing  great  harm  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ.' 

The  government  took  every  measure  to  prevent  the 
circulation  of  this  letter.  All  the  copies  that  could  be 
seized  were  burned  by  the  common  hangman,  and  those 
who  had  any  in  their  possession  were  ordered  to  bring 
them  for  destruction  within  twenty-four  hours,  under 
pain  of  death." 

On  January  6,  1655,  Innocent  X.  died.  Mazarin  had 
already  sent  to  the  cardinals  who  were  in  the  interests 
of  France  instructions  as  to  the  course  they  should 
pursue.  The  choice  of  France  at  this  conclave,  as  in 
1644,  was  the  Cardinal  Sacchetti,  who  was  a  man  of  high 
character  and  learning.  Against  two  only  were  they  in- 
structed to  interpose  the  veto  of  France.  One  was  Francis 
Barberini.  The  other  was  the  Cardinal  Chigi,  who  had 
been  the  papal  nuncio  at  Miinster,  and  was  thought  to 
have  shown  too  much  friendship  for  Spain  during  those 
negotiations.  Chigi,  it  was  said,  had  his  head  filled  with 
false  maxims  about  the  affairs  of  the  world  and  Christian 
princes,  and  was  the  more  dangerous  because  he  had  an 
extraordinary  confidence  in  his  own  judgment.  He  was 
a  man  that  had  neither  solid  learning  nor  solid  virtue,  but 
only  a  superficial  and  pedantic  smattering  of  literature 
and  an  illusive  appearance  of  religious  zeal.' 

As  a  result  of  Innocent  X.'s  hostility  to  France,  that 
kingdom  had  but  few  cardinals  who  were  devoted  to  her 
interests.  The  French  faction  numbered  only  five  cardi- 
nals. Retz  offered  to  attach  himself  to  it,  but  under 
the  instructions  which  they  had,  they  refused  to  have 
any  relations  with  him.  He  therefore  joined  what  was 
called  the  flying  squadron.  This  consisted  of  about  ten 
cardinals,  who  regarded  themselves  as  free  from  obliga- 

'  This  letter  is  published  in  Mem.  de  Retz,  iv.,  254-293. 

'  Decree  of  January,  29,  1655. 

*  Instructions  pour  le  Conclave,  Aff.  Etr.  Rome,  126. 


IFJA'  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    269. 

tions  to  any  government  or  to  any  other  cardinal,  and  wha 
therefore,  as  Retz  said,  recognized  only  the  promptings  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Spanish  faction  contained  over 
twenty  members,  and  about  as  many  more  acted  under 
the  nominal  leadership  of  the  Cardinal  Barberini. 

On  January  20th  the  balloting  began.  There  were 
sixty-six  cardinals  present,  and  forty-four  were  necessary 
for  a  choice.  Sacchetti  received  the  votes  of  the  French 
and  the  Barberini  factions,  and  most  of  those  who  formed 
the  flying  squadron.  The  latter,  it  was  said,  really  pre- 
ferred Chigi,  but  they  voted  for  Sacchetti  in  the  confi- 
dence that  he  could  not  be  elected,  that  they  might  at 
last  incline  Barberini  to  the  man  who  was  their  secret 
choice.  Sacchetti  was  recognized  by  all  as  a  worthy  man, 
and  was  popular  from  his  gentle  manners  ;  but  at  this 
conclave,  as  at  the  former  one,  the  Spanish  faction  would 
not  support  him,  because  they  believed  him  the  friend  of 
Mazarin.  He  received  at  every  ballot  from  thirty  to 
thirty-five  votes,  but  he  was  unable  to  obtain  any  more. 
The  other  votes  were  scattered,  and  the  cardinals  watched 
for  future  combinations. 

The  rules  of  the  conclave  forbade  any  intercourse  with 
the  world,  but  they  were  not  strictly  enforced.  One  of 
the  attendants  on  Cardinal  Antonio  was  able  to  carry 
all  of  Mazarin's  orders  to  the  conclave,  by  means  of  some 
dishes  with  false  bottoms  which  he  had  made  for  the  pur- 
pose.' The  cardinals  ate  separately,  and  they  were  sup- 
posed to  have  but  one  dish  for  each  meal.  Many  violated 
this  rule  and  lived  with  much  pomp,  and  Retz  was  among 
those  who  thus  disregarded  the  traditions  of  the  church.* 
The  balloting  proceeded  with  little  change.  The  Spanish 
minister  insisted  on  the  exclusion  of  Sacchetti,  and  it 
seemed  possible  that  a  combination  might  be  made  on  one 
of  several  cardinals.  Chigi  had  as  yet  received  no  votes, 
but  he  had  been  much  in  the  thoughts  of  all.  His  char- 
acter  stood    high    for    learning   and    probity.      He   was 

*  Thevenot  i  Mazarin,  Jan.  17,  1655. 
*  Relation  du  Conclave,  Aff.  Etr.  Rome,  129. 


270      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

acceptable  to  the  Spanish  ;  he  was  the  choice  of  the  flying 
squadron,  and  they  endeavored  to  make  Barberini  see  that 
the  election  of  Sacchetti  was  impossible,  and  draw  him 
insensibly  to  the  support  of  Chigi. 

That  cardinal  conducted  himself  with  much  judgment. 
He  answered  questions  with  a  disinterestedness  that 
edified  all.  He  joined  little  in  the  general  conversation, 
but  stayed  in  his  cell,  receiving  no  visits.  He  spoke  only 
of  the  zeal  due  the  church,  and  the  necessity  for  studying 
the  Scriptures  and  the  traditions  of  the  councils.  No  one 
could  accuse  him  of  showing  any  wish  for  the  pontificate, 
except  the  apostolic  desire  for  a  bishopric,  because 
it  was  a  good  thing.  Sacchetti  was  himself  a  friend  of 
Chigi,  and,  having  probably  little  hope  of  his  own  elec- 
tion, he  wrote  Mazarin,  commending  the  virtues  of  his 
rival,  and  asking  for  the  withdrawal  of  the  veto  of  France.' 
The  minister  decided  to  follow  this  advice.  It  was  not 
<:ertain  but  that  Chigi  would  be  elected  in  any  event,  and 
if  he  declared  for  him  now  he  might  hope  for  credit  with 
the  future  Pope.  On  March  17th  the  French  cardinals 
were  notified  that  the  king,  having  been  informed  of  the 
merit  and  probity  of  Cardinal  Chigi,  had  revoked  the  ex- 
clusion against  him,  and  directed  them  to  support  him 
if  it  was  impossible  to  elect  Sacchetti."  The  voting 
for  Sacchetti  continued,  but  it  was  evident  that  he  had  no 
further  chance.  On  April  7th,  after  eighty  days  of  ballot- 
ing, all  united  on  Chigi,  and  he  was  unanimously  elected 
Pope.  He  wept  when  the  scrutiny  was  announced  by 
which  he  was  chosen,  because  he  was  separated  from 
his  associates  by  his  new  dignity.  He  took  the  name  of 
Alexander  VH." 

'  Lionne  i  Mazarin,  Feb.  15th.     Aflf.  Etr.  Rome,  129. 

'  Declaration  de  Lionne. 

*  The  history  of  this  conclave  is  found  in  the  relation  already  referred  to, 
and  the  letters  of  Lionne  during  its  continuance.  Aff.  Etr.  Rome,  127  and 
129.  Many  of  these  letters  have  been  published  by  M.  Valfrey,  in  "  Les 
Ambassades  de  Hugues  de  Lionne."  Retz,  t.  iv.,  293—323,  has  given  an 
entertaining  account  of  the  conclave.  It  is,  in  some  things,  corrected  by  the 
letters  of  Lionne.     Retz  says  this  conclave,  and  all  of  the  conclaves  that  he 


IVAA'   WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    2/1 

Both  Retz  and  Mazarin  hoped  to  have  the  active 
cooperation  of  the  new  Pope,  and  both  of  them  were  dis- 
contented with  the  action  he  took.  The  question  of  the 
position  of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  was  an  embarrassing 
one,  and  the  new  Pope's  desire  was  to  delay  any  decision 
so  long  as  he  could,  and  to  avoid  it  altogether  if  it  was 
possible.  Lionne  at  once  visited  Alexander  VII.  and  pre- 
sented the  letter  which  asked  for  proceedings  to  be  taken 
against  Retz.  The  Pope  told  him  that  the  French  were 
in  the  habit  of  writing  very  long  letters,  but  sometimes 
the  affairs  of  this  world  changed,  as  had  the  position  they 
took  in  reference  to  the  Barberini.  The  ambassador 
answered  they  had  more  reason  to  complain  of  the  long 
letters  which  Cardinal  Retz  wrote.' 

The  Pope  received  the  letter,  but  he  announced  no 
action.  In  May,  Mazarin  requested  him  not  only  to  send 
commissioners  to  France  to  investigate  the  charges  against 
Retz,  but  in  the  meantime  to  arrest  him  and  put  him  in 
the  castle  of  Saint  Angelo.  Alexander  demurred  to  the 
latter  part  of  this  request,  but  said  that  a  commission 
should  be  appointed  before  which  the  charges  could  be 
presented.*  But  his  next  act  disconcerted  the  French 
government  and  was  believed  by  the  friends  of  Retz  to 
show  that  the  Pope  was  wholly  in  their  favor.  At  the 
consistory  of  June  1st,  Retz  demanded  of  the  Pope  the 
pallium  as  Archbishop  of  Paris.  Alexander  VII,  acceded 
to  this  request,  and  it  was  given  him  early  in  the  morning 
of  the  next  day,  before  the  French  envoy  received  any 
opportunity  to  protest  against  its  bestowal.*  Retz  was 
thus  solemnly  recognized  as  the  legal  incumbent  of  that 
office,  which  the  French  government  treated  as  vacant. 

Lionne  protested  against  this  act,  and  the  Pope  assumed 
somewhat  of  an  apologetic  tone.  He  said  that  the  be- 
stowal of  the  pallium  added  nothing  to  the  authority  of 

ever  attended,  were  conducted  with  entire  courtesy,  mutual  respect,  and 
charity,  and  the  appearance  of  the  body  was  always  that  of  reser^•e,  dignity, 
'and  wisdom.  '  Lionne  4  Brienne,  April  19th.     Afl.  Etr.  Rome,  129. 

'  lb..  May  17th.  *  lb.,  June  loth. 


2/2        FRANCE  UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND   MAZARIN. 

an  archbishop,  and  that  Retz  must  be  assumed  innocent 
until  he  was  proved  guilty.  The  envoy  replied  that  if 
one  was  accused  of  crime  and  the  accuser  offered  to  prove 
it  within  a  month,  it  had  been  held  that  the  Holy  Father 
should  delay  in  giving  the  pallium,  and  that  the  letters  of 
accusation  of  the  king  should  have  been  regarded  as 
equivalent  to  such  a  charge. 

The  Pope  agreed  to  hasten  the  procedure  against  Retz. 
His  commissioners  would  go  to  France,  and  witnesses 
could  be  produced  before  them  who  would  testify,  for  in- 
stance, that  on  such  a  day  they  saw  the  Cardinal  Retz  at 
the  head  of  a  regiment,  called  the  Corinthians,  levied 
against  the  king,  dressed  in  a  short  habit  with  pistols  in 
his  belt  and  a  green  feather  in  his  hat,  and  that  at  another 
time  they  heard  him  preach  sedition  and  order  the  erec- 
tion of  barricades.  On  evidence  of  this  nature  the  Pope 
would  consider  and  make  such  decision  as  should  be  just, 
without  regard  to  the  amnesty  granted  by  the  king  in 
1652.'  He  complained,  however,  of  the  scandalous  con- 
dition in  which  the  bishopric  was  left,  there  having  been 
no  prelate  to  administer  ordination  in  it  for  a  year,  and 
the  souls  of  the  faithful  suffering  from  spiritual  want. 
The  Pope  was  subjected  to  conflicting  influences,  and  in- 
clined first  to  one  side  then  to  the  other,  but  he  refused 
to  demand  of  Retz  that  he  should  resign  his  arch- 
bishopric." 

The  offending  archbishop  now  proceeded  again  to  dis- 
turb the  government  by  attempting  to  exercise  his  au- 
thority. The  bull  for  the  jubilee  was  to  be  pronounced, 
and  Retz  sent  letters  to  the  chapter,  directing  that  if  his 
former  vicars  were  detained  from  Paris,  the  cur^s  of  Saint 
Severin  and  the  Madeleine  should  act  in  their  place,  for 
this  and  other  purposes.  The  latter  was  charged  with  being 
a  Jansenist,  but  he  was  a  bold  and  active  man  and  devoted 
to  Retz's  interests.     The  vicars  appointed  by  the  chapter 

'  Letter  of  June  loth. 

*  Dep^che  du  Roi,  June  4th,  Aff.  Etr.  Rome,  1^7.  Lionne  4  Brienne, 
June  28th,    Jb.,  129. 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    273 

decided  that  they  had  no  further  authority  and  ceased 
to  act.  The  papal  nuncio  said  that  he  could  not  recog- 
nize them,  and  they  admitted  that  to  continue  their  func- 
tions contrary  to  the  order  of  an  archbishop  who  had 
received  the  pallium,  would  be  to  create  a  schism  in  the 
church  of  Paris.'  The  government  was  resolved  that  it 
would  allow  no  action  on  the  part  of  those  authorized  by 
Retz.  One  of  his  former  vicars  undertook  to  perform 
some  function,  and  he  was  arrested  and  lodged  in  the 
Bastille.' 

One  of  the  new  vicars  obeyed  the  royal  order  and  re- 
tired from  Paris.  But  Chassebras,  the  cur6  of  the  Made- 
leine, carried  on  an  ecclesiastical  war  with  great  vigor. 
In  order  to  escape  arrest  he  concealed  himself  at  the 
Port  Royal  and  in  other  retreats.  He  could  have  no 
open  communication  with  the  clergy  of  the  flock,  and  his 
orders  appeared  in  proclamations  pasted  up  in  various 
parts  of  the  city.  The  oflficers  tried  to  arrest  those  who 
did  this  work,  but  it  was  impossible  to  discover  them. 
Discreet  agents  walked  through  the  streets  at  night  with 
the  bulletins  prepared,  and,  in  an  unobserved  moment,  the 
documents  were  pasted  upon  church  doors  and  in  public 
places,  which  informed  the  flock  of  the  orders  of  its  arch- 
bishop's representatives,  and  denounced  spiritual  penalties 
upon  those  who  disregarded  them.* 

The  bishops  of  Dol  and  Coutances  administered  ordina- 
tion in  the  churches  of  Paris  without  consent  of  the 
archbishop.  A  proclamation  of  Chassebras  denounced 
this  violation  of  ecclesiastical  law,  and  notified  them  that 
they  had  brought  upon  themselves  the  penalties  declared 
by  the  canons  of  the  church  against  such  offenders.'  The 
Chatelet  rendered  a  sentence  against  Chassebras  by  de- 
fault, condemning  hian  for  having  had  dealings  with 
Retz,  which  had  been  forbidden  to  all  subjects,  and  sen- 

'  Seguier  i  Brienne,  June  14.  1655.       *  Bachelerie  4  Mazarin,  July  ist. 
*ClaudeJoly,  177.      Histoire  del'Eglise  de  Paris.       Joly  was  one  of  the 
canons  of  Notre  Dame  at  this  time. 

*  Aff.  Etr.  Rome,  128..  228.     Seguier  k  Brienne  and  k  Tellier,  Aug.  24th. 


274      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

tencing  him  to  banishment  and  the  confiscation  of  his 
property.  The  cur6  replied  by  a  placard  ordering  those 
who  were  persecuting  the  church  to  cease  and  repent 
of  their  sins,  lest  they  should  bring  on  themselves  her 
excommunication.  Many  of  the  archbishop's  friends 
wished  him  to  issue  an  interdict  and  direct  the  churches 
to  be  closed.  The  majority  of  the  cur^s  of  the  chapter, 
it  was  said,  would  obey  such  a  direction.  But  Retz  was 
not  a  Thomas  k  Becket.  He  may  have  feared  that  the 
age  of  k  Becket  was  past,  and  that  the  interdict  would 
be  treated  with  contempt.  He  also  cherished  the  hope  of 
some  reconciliation  with  the  government,  and  he  hesitated 
to  invoke  the  thunders  of  his  office.'  He  adopted  in  all 
these  struggles  an  inconsistent  position,  trusting  to  in- 
trigue and  finesse,  more  than  to  the  privileges  and  power 
of  the  church,  and  the  result  was,  that  while  he  caused  the 
government  a  great  deal  of  annoyance,  he  was  unsucessful 
in  the  conflict. 

Lionne  asked  the  Pope  repeatedly  to  proceed  with  the 
trial  of  the  charges  against  Retz,  as  he  had  promised.  The 
Holy  Father  replied  that  he  feared  the  grievous  scandal 
of  such  an  affair,  and  felt  confident  that  he  could  induce 
the  archbishop  to  make  some  settlement  which  would  be 
satisfactory.  Moreover  Cardinal  Retz  assured  him  that 
these  charges  were  utterly  groundless,  and  at  most  were 
only  raking  up  some  faults  of  his  youth.  The  envoy  re- 
plied that  he  had  with  him  the  oflficial  proceedings  of  the 
Parliament  showing  that  Retz  had  assisted  in  its  delibera- 
tion when  in  rebellion,  and  had  preached  to  his  flock  that 
they  must  sell  even  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  church,  in 
order  to  raise  money  with  which  to  levy  war  against 
the  king.'  Retz  was  an  unsuccessful  Cromwell,  and  he 
was  a  Jansenist  besides.' 

Alexander  VH.  was  an  enemy  to  the  Jansenists,  but  he 
thought  the  relations  of  the  archbishop  with  them  were 
purely  political,  and  adopted  to  strengthen  his  position. 

*  Joly,  124,  125.      *  Lionne  i  Brienne,  Aug.  23d.     Aff.  Etr.  Rome,  130. 
*  lb.,  Oct.  1 8th,  et pas. 


tVAX  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    2y$ 

*'  He  has  disputed,  written,  and  preached  against  the 
doctrine  of  Jansen,"  said  the  Pope.  "  That  he  has  never 
sought  aid  in  the  purse  of  the  Jansenists,  that  I  would  not 
affirm.'" 

At  last,  on  November  9th,  the  Pope  appointed  a  con- 
gregation of  eight  cardinals  and  four  bishops  to  consider 
the  charges  against  the  Archbishop  of  Paris.  Retz  said  he 
was  quite  ready,  and  that  the  day  his  process  began  he 
would  have  one  instituted  against  the  Cardinal  Mazarin.' 
But  the  Pontiff  did  not  desire  that  the  appointment  of  the 
congregation  should  lead  to  the  beginning  of  any  proceed- 
ings. He  endeavored  to  satisfy  the  French  government 
by  a  different  measure,  and  on  November  15th,  an  instru- 
ment was  sent  to  Paris  appointing  a  suffragan  to  adminis- 
ter the  affairs  of  the  diocese  of  Paris.  The  name  was  left 
in  blank  and  was  to  be  inserted  by  the  king.  This  action 
seemed  to  solve  the  difficulties  that  existed  there,  and  the 
intelligence  of  it  was  received  with  great  satisfaction.* 

But  when  the  instrument  arrived  at  Paris,  it  was  found 
to  have  conditions  which  the  government  refused  to 
accept.  The  nuncio  required  to  be  assured  that  the 
assembly  of  the  clergy  and  the  Parliament  would  recog- 
nize this  order  of  the  Holy  See  and  make  no  opposition 
to  rts  execution.  Mazarin  replied  that  the  absolute  and 
despotic  power  of  France  was  in  the  person  of  the  king, 
and  no  organization  in  the  kingdom  could  pretend  to  have 
any  part  in  it.*  He  wrote  the  queen  that  to  agree  to  any 
negotiations  with  the  assembly  or  the  Parliament  would 
be  a  step  most  injurious  to  the  royal  authority,  which 
could  not  be  dependent  on  any  other.  Were  it  otherwise, 
the  king,  instead  of  being  absolute,  would  be  only  the 
doge  of  the  republic  of  France.'  The  clergy  showed 
also  that  they  could  not  recognize  any  such  authority  in 
the    Pope   as  he   sought   to    exercise   by    appointing    a 

'Id. 

*  Lionne  a  Mazarin,  Nov.  ist ;  k  Brienne,  Nov.  15th.  Aff.  Etr.  Rome,  130. 

*  Lionne  k  Brienne,  Nov.  15th.  Servien  4  Mazarin,  Nov.  26th.  Mazarin 
jk  Brienne,  Nov.  27th. 

*  Mazarin  A  Brienne,  Nov.  27th.  *  Mazarin  i  la  Reine,  Nov.  28th. 


276       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

suffragan  for  a  bishopric,  without  the  consent  of  the 
bishop  himself.' 

The  French  government  declined  to  act  upon  the  Pope's 
brief,  but  the  Pontiff  succeeded  at  last  in  having  Retz 
appoint  a  vicar  from  a  list  prepared  by  the  king.  The 
cardinal  was  loath  to  do  it,  but  the  Pope  was  urgent ; 
he  feared  offending  him,  and  he  hoped  that  by  thus 
acceding  to  the  wish  of  the  king  he  might  receive  the 
income  of  his  bishopric.  On  January  2,  1656,  Retz  chose 
the  Abb6  Saussay  as  his  grand  vicar.  He  sent  with  the 
appointment  a  letter  to  the  clergy  of  Paris,  asking  them 
to  assist  in  obtaining  the  return  of  those  of  their  associ- 
ates who  had  been  banished.  But  the  letter  was  returned 
to  the  cardinal,  and  no  steps  were  taken  towards  recogniz- 
ing in  him  any  rights  to  the  fruits  of  his  benefice. 

Mazarin  was  obliged  to  abandon  his  endeavor  to  have 
Retz  tried  before  some  tribunal  appointed  by  the  Pope, 
for  the  offences  with  which  he  was  charged.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  the  Pontiff  had  no  thought  except  to  prolong 
the  matter  indefinitely,  and  the  dignity  of  the  government 
demanded  that  it  should  cease  further  solicitation."  Lionne 
was  recalled  in  March,  1656,  and  the  proceedings  against 
Retz  were  abandoned.  But,  notwithstanding  this,  his 
position  was  little  improved.  Mazarin  was  implacible, 
and  would  make  no  terms,  and  Retz  could  not  bring  him- 
self to  resign  his  archbishopric  and  thus  make  his  peace. 
Though  Alexander  VII.  had  not  gratified  the  French 
government  by  Retz's  prosecution,  he  did  little  to  help 
him  in  his  struggle,  and  he  did  not  choose  him  for  one  of  his 
confidential  counsellors  in  the  administration  of  the  pon- 
tificate. Retz  loved  display  and  large  expense,  but  friends 
grew  weary  of  advancing  great  sums  of  money  to  a  man 
who  seemed  doomed  to  hopeless  exile. 

The  cardinal  had  hoped  that  he  might  have  some 
hold  upon  Saussay,  but  the  new  vicar  regarded  himself  as 

'  Bishop  of  Coutances  to  Mazarin,  Nov.  27th. 

*  Mazarin  i  Oudedei,  Nov.  17th.  Brienne  a  Lionne,  Feby.  nth,  1656. 
Roi  i  Bichi,  March  9th. 


JVAR  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    2/7 

holding  his  office  from  the  king,  and  he  would  have  no 
relations  with  the  archbishop.  Thereupon,  in  the  summer 
of  1656,  Retz  revoked  his  authority.  The  Pope  was  dis- 
pleased by  this  act  and  demanded  his  restoration.  Retz 
refused  to  give  it,  and  thinking  that  he  had  lost  any  hope 
of  good-will  from  the  Pontiff  he  left  Rome,  and  began  a 
wandering  life.  The  government  issued  pronunciamentos 
against  harboring  him,  and  made  some  endeavors  to  arrest 
him.  He,  on  the  other  hand,  indulged  in  much  under- 
ground plotting,  issued  occasional  well-written  pamphlets 
against  Mazarin,  and  by  various  papers  and  orders  caused 
at  times  some  degree  of  ecclesiastical  confusion  in  his 
diocese.  But  his  life  on  the  whole  was  a  very  obscure 
one.  He  thought  at  times  of  resigning  his  office,  but  his 
friends  at  the  Port  Royal  bade  him  follow  the  examples 
of  the  holy  bishops  who  remained  concealed  in  deserts 
and  caverns  in  times  of  persecution. 

He  so  far  imitated  them  that  his  whereabouts  were 
often  unknown  for  considerable  periods.  Unfortunately 
the  imitation  was  not  complete.  His  follower  says  that  he 
grew  fond  of  wandering  obscurely  from  tavern  to  tavern, 
and  that  while  he  compared  his  lot  to  that  of  the  holy  an- 
chorites, he  found  consolation  in  the  society  of  rope  dan- 
cers and  ballet  girls.'  An  archbishop  posing  as  Athanasius 
and  caressing  Phyllis  in  a  hostlery,  was  the  sight  presented 
to  the  faithful."  When  Mazarin  died,  Retz  hoped  for  some 
improvement  in  his  condition.  But  Louis  XIV.  was  true 
to  the  traditions  of  his  minister,  and  he  said  that  the  car- 
dinal should  not  return  to  France  unless  he  resigned  his 
archbishopric.  Retz  yielded  at  last.  He  resigned  the 
archbishopric  of  Paris  and  received  in  exchange  several 
lucrative  abbeys.  In  1665  he  again  visited  the  Court,  but 
Louis  XIV.  did  not  forget  those  who  had  been  active  in 
the  troubles  of  the  Fronde,  and  Retz  was  coldly  received. 
He  lived,  however,  with  much  splendor  out  of  Paris,  and 

'  Joly  138,  141.  It  is  true  that  when  Joly  wrote  this  he  had  quarrelled 
with  Retz  and  left  his  service,  but  I  see  nothing  improbable  in  his  account 
of  the  prelate's  morals.  '  Sainte  Beuve,  Port  Royal,  iii.,  192. 


2/8       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

he  was  employed  in  the  service  which  Mazarin  had  offered 
to  him  many  years  before.  He  was  frequently  sent  to 
Rome  on  behalf  of  the  French  government,  and  attended 
several  conclaves  in  its  interests.  At  the  last  of  these, 
eight  votes  were  cast  for  Cardinal  Retz  as  supreme  pontiff. 
During  his  later  years  he  prepared  the  memoirs  of  his  life, 
which  are  among  the  classics  of  the  French  language. 

While  the  government  was  endeavoring  to  drive  Retz. 
from  his  archbishopric,  the  Parliament  of  Paris  attempted 
again  to  exercise  some  authority  over  the  imposition  of 
taxes.  Its  effort  was  checked  with  vigor.  Sixty  thousand 
to  seventy  thousand  men  were  to  be  under  arms  in  the 
campaign  of  1655,  and  Mazarin  worked  day  and  night  at 
the  preparations.  War  on  such  a  scale  required  money ; 
the  expenses  of  the  gayeties  and  pomp  of  the  Court  of 
Louis  XIV.  were  large,  and  Fouquet  had  already  begun 
to  despoil  the  treasury  by  giving  enormous  profits  to  his 
associates  among  the  financiers.  A  new  edict  created 
various  offices,  imposed  taxes  on  baptisms  and  funer- 
als, and  created  other  sources  of  revenue.  Its  most 
important  provision  was  one  which  directed  that  all  paper 
used  in  instruments  prepared  by  notaries  should  be 
stamped.  A  considerable  revenue  was  expected  to  be 
raised  from  this  duty.  Financiers  offered  to  pay  eight 
million  livres  a  year  for  the  farm  of  it,  and  those  who 
complained  of  it  said  it  would  take  as  much  as  twenty 
millions  from  the  people.'  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  im- 
position of  a  stamp  duty  in  France,  and  the  government 
had  choien  a  proper  subject  for  taxation.  It  was  a  duty 
from  which  the  poor  would  be  almost  entirely  exempt, 
and  which  would  fall  upon  others  in  proportion  to  the 
number  and  importance  of  their  transactions. 

It  was  known,  however,  that  there  would  be  opposi- 
tion to  the  edict,  and  on  March  20,  1655,  the  king  held  a 
bed  of  justice  at  which  it  was  registered.  But  after  this 
forced  registration  the  Parliament  resolved  to  consider 

'  Dis.  Ven.  cxviii.,  1.8.  Journal  d'un  Bourgeois,  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.  io,276.» 
325- 


JVyi/f  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    279 

the  provisions  of  the  edict,  with  a  view  to  presenting 
remonstrances  against  them.  On  the  9th  of  April  it 
assembled  to  hear  the  edict  again  read,  and  the  tax  on 
stamped  paper  was  subjected  to  special  criticism.  It  was 
said  to  be  burdensome,  inconvenient,  and  offensive,  and 
the  members  intended  to  continue  their  sessions  and 
proceed  with  the  discussion  of  these  matters.  There  were 
many  friends  of  Retz  and  Cond^  still  left ;  there  were 
many  who  still  dreamed  of  making  the  Parliament  a  great 
political  body,  and  Paris  itself  was  wearied  of  its  troubles 
rather  than  cured  of  its  animosities.' 

But  both  Louis  and  Mazarin  were  resolved  that  there 
should  be  no  renewal  of  the  Fronde.  The  young  king  was 
hunting  at  Vincennes  when  he  heard  of  these  discussions, 
and  he  resolved  to  check  them  at  once. 

On  April  13th,  he  hastened  back  from  his  hunting 
and  proceeded  to  the  Palais  de  Justice,  without  even 
waiting  to  dress  himself  as  etiquette  required.  He  had  on 
a  red  coat,  with  a  gray  plumed  hat,  spurs  on  his  riding 
boots,  and  a  sword  by  his  side.  No  king  of  France  had 
ever  appeared  before  his  Parliament  in  such  a  dress. 
Louis  showed  manifest  anger  in  his  face.  It  was  at  this 
time,  that  Louis  XIV.  is  said  to  have  answered  the  remon- 
strances of  the  president  as  to  the  interest  of  the  state,  by 
the  famous  remark  :  "  L'  Etat,  c'  est  moi."  These  words 
perhaps  expressed  Louis'  conception  of  the  government,, 
but  he  never  uttered  them.  Like  many  of  the  sayings 
attributed  to  famous  men,  they  are  apocryphal.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  king  entered  the  parliament  unan- 
nounced,  and  at  once  interrupting  their  discussions,  he 
said  :  "  All  know  how  much  trouble  your  assemblies  have 
excited  in  the  state,  and  what  dangerous  effects  they  have 
produced.  I  have  heard  that  you  claim  you  will  continue 
them,  under  the  pretext  of  deliberating  on  the  edicts  which 
were  registered  in  my  presence.  I  have  come  here  ex- 
pressly to  forbid  their  continuation,"  he  said,  shaking  his 
finger  at  the  members  of  the  Inquests,  "and  to  forbid  you, 

'  Turenne,  468. 


28o       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

M.  first  President,"  shaking  his  finger  at  him,  "  to  allow 
them  to  be  held,  which  I  do  absolutely."  Having  finished 
these  remarks,  the  king  rose  at  once  from  his  seat,  and 
left  the  court  without  giving  time  for  any  reply.' 

The  members  of  the  court  were  filled  with  consternation 
at  the  words  and  manner  of  the  king,  and  still  more  at 
his  dress.  M0I6  had  resigned  his  place  as  first  president, 
and  the  position  was  now  held  by  Belli^vre,  a  judge  who 
had  formerly  been  somewhat  identified  with  the  Fron- 
deurs,  and  an  able  and  ambitious  man.  He  visited  Maz- 
arin,  and  in  behalf  of  the  body  represented  its  consterna- 
tion at  this  extraordinary  visit  of  the  king.  The  cardinal 
adopted  the  role  of  a  conciliator.  The  dress,  he  said,  was 
that  of  a  hunter,  which  the  king  had  neglected  to  change, 
and  not  that  of  a  soldier  assumed  for  the  occasion.  The 
motion  of  the  hand  was  casual,  and  not  intended  for  a 
threat.  The  president  reported  these  favorable  words, 
and  held  out  hopes  that  the  Parliament  would  still  be  al- 
lowed to  consider  the  edict. 

He  was  sent  again  to  the  king  to  deprecate  any  feelings 
of  animosity,  and  to  ask  that  the  body  might  be  allowed 
to  deliberate  on  these  measures.  Louis  replied  that  he 
felt  no  bitterness  towards  the  members,  and  had  no  wish 
to  deprive  them  of  any  of  their  privileges,  but  the  condi- 
tion of  affairs  did  not  allow  any  such  assemblies  to  be  held, 
and  he  forbade  their  continuation.  The  other  members 
of  the  cabinet  thought  Mazarin  had  been  too  lenient  in  his 
expressions.  Colbert  wrote  him  that  Belli^vre  had  mis- 
stated his  remarks  when  he  reported  them  to  the  Parlia- 
ment, and  that  all  right-minded  people  lamented  that  he 
would  not  so  far  control  his  natural  benignity  as  to  incul- 

'  This  account  of  the  interview  of  the  king  with  the  Parliament,  is  taken 
from  Journal  d'un  Bourgeois  de  Paris.  Mss.  Bib.  Nat.,  10,276.,  325,  et  sfq., 
and  from  the  report  sent  by  the  Venetian  minister,  cxviii.,  45.  The  two  are 
substantially  the  same.  Montglat,  306,  Mme.  de  Motteville,  444,  also  des- 
cribe it,  but  with  less  fulness  and  accuracy.  No  contemporary  writer  attributes 
to  Louis  any  such  words,  as  "  L'  Etat,  c'  est  moi."  The  remark  is  legendary 
and  its  origin  considerably  later.  M.  Vian  and  M.  Cheruel  have  fully  re- 
viewed the  authorities  on  this  question,  and  shown  that  there  was  no  evi- 
dence that  Louis  said  any  thing  of  the  sort. 


\ 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    281 

cate  fear  in  the  minds  of  these  people,  as  that  was  the  only 
way  to  compel  them  to  their  duty.  All  the  presidents 
and  deans  of  the  different  chambers  should  be  summoned 
before  the  king,  and  any  hope  of  their  receiving  permission 
to  assemble  and  deliberate  on  the  edict  should  be 
dispelled  in  vigorous  and  energetic  terms.' 

The  cardinal  obtained  Turenne's  aid  in  quieting  the 
opposition  of  the  Parliament.  The  marshal  saw  President 
Belli^vre,  represented  to  him  the  injurious  effects  on 
the  campaign  that  was  about  beginning,  of  opposition  to 
the  financial  measures  of  the  government,  and  Belli^vre 
promised  that  he  would  use  his  efforts  to  prevent  any 
discussion  of  these  matters."  He  recognized  the  fact  that 
Louis  XIV.  was  inflexible  in  his  resolution  that  he  would 
not  allow  any  such  meeting,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
president  wished  to  preserve  his  credit  with  the  body,  for 
being  zealous  in  its  interests.  He  conferred,  therefore, 
with  the  most  strenuous  of  the  members.  While  profess- 
ing eagerness  in  the  cause,  he  said  the  government  was 
now  irritated,  and  would  pursue  those  who  demanded  a 
meeting  to  consider  the  provisions  of  this  edict.  It  was 
better  to  allow  a  few  weeks  to  pass,  during  which  per- 
mission for  such  discussions  could  be  obtained.'  It  was 
decided,  therefore,  to  postpone  the  matter.  In  the  mean- 
time the  zeal  of  many  was  quieted  by  substantial  re- 
wards. Six  thousand  livres  were  given  one  president  to 
help  finish  a  terrace  for  his  country  house,  and  it  was 
suggested  to  him  that  more  might  follow.  Other  sums 
were  judiciously  distributed  among  those  who  could  be 
approached  in  this  way.*  Some  arrests  showed  that  the 
government  could  be  severe  as  well  as  liberal,  and  that 
old  caballers  must  be  more  cautious  in  what  they  said 
about  the  minister.*     Some  slight  concessions  were  made, 

'  Lettres  de  Colbert,  i.,  234,  April  i6th 

*  Tureniie,  468.     Le  Tellier  4  Mazarin,  May  14th. 

•  He  reported  the  progress  he  was  making  to  the  ministers  of  the  crown. 
Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  894.,  103,  106. 

*  Gourville,  517,  518.     Gourville  himself  handled  the  money. 

•  Journal  d'lm  Bourgeois,  338. 


282       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN, 

and  the  parliamentary  opposition  faded  away.  In  the 
summer,  Mazarin  sent  the  President  Belli^vre  three  hun- 
dred thousand  Hvres  to  reward  him  for  his  discreet  con- 
duct in  quieting  the  opposition  of  his  associates.' 

The  president  was  singularly  fortunate  in  this  matter. 
He  preserved  the  good-will  of  the  Parliament  for  his 
apparent  zeal  in  its  behalf ;  he  obtained  the  favor  of  the 
government  and  a  great  sum  of  money ;  and  he  has  gone 
into  history  as  the  liberty-loving  judge,  who  dared  to 
plead  for  the  interests  of  the  state  to  the  very  face  of  a 
booted  and  enraged  monarch. 

The  campaign  of  1655  was  successful,  but  it  did  not 
result  in  any  very  important  advantages  for  the  French. 
They  captured  Valenciennes,  and  after  that,  Turenne's. 
army  being  now  larger  than  Condi's,  he  marched  through 
a  portion  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands.  The  enemy  could 
do  nothing  but  watch  their  progress,  and  it  was  proposed 
to  push  on  to  Brussels.  It  was  decided  not  to  attempt  so 
important  a  movement,  but  the  young  king  took  great 
pleasure  in  accompanying  this  military  promenade  through 
the  enemies'  country.  Once  Turenne  nearly  caught  a 
portion  of  Condi's  army  as  they  were  crossing  a  stream, 
where  he  might  have  captured  or  destroyed  the  most  of 
them.  But  the  Marquis  of  Castelnau  was  sent  on  to  arrest 
their  march,  and  some  of  Condi's  officers,  who  were  the 
marquis's  friends,  came  under  a  flag  of  truce  to  have  a 
chat  with  him.  With  the  courtesy  which  the  French 
nobles  prided  themselves  on  extending  to  their  adver- 
saries in  war,  he  checked  his  troops  to  exchange  the 
compliments  of  the  season  with  his  friends,  and  while  he 
was  doing  this  Condi's  soldiers  got  across  the  stream. 
Turenne  reported  to  Mazarin  that  the  prince's  troops 
went  in  such  hot  haste,  that  some  of  them  had  to  swim 
over  the  stream  and  leave  their  cannon  behind.  The 
letter  fell  in  Condi's  hands,  and  he  was  so  incensed  that 
he  carried  on  a  diplomatic  correspondence  with  Turenne, 
accusing  him  of  having  falsely  maligned  his  honor  and  his 

'  Lettres  de  Colbert,  i,  235. 


WAH  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    285 

management  of  the  troops.  Turenne  thought  that  Cond6 
treated  a  very  small  thing  as  a  cause  of  diplomatic  rage, 
but  Mazarin  said  that  those  who  were  beaten  had  always 
the  right  to  complain  of  the  judges.' 

After  this  the  French  captured  the  towns  of  Cond^  and 
Saint  Guillain.  Such  victories  were  not  of  great  import- 
ance. The  garrison  of  Saint  Guillain  numbered  little 
over  700  men,  and  on  its  surrender  they  were  allowed  to 
march  out  with  the  honors  of  war.  A  medal  was,  how- 
ever, struck  to  celebrate  this  campaign  of  the  armies  of 
Louis  XIV.,  representing  a  laurel  with  three  mural  crowns.* 
The  king  returned  from  the  army  in  August  and  gave 
his  attention  to  the  fetes  and  ballets  in  which  the  Court 
abounded  during  his  presence.  Louis  was  especially  de- 
voted at  this  time  to  Olympe  Mancini,  and  courtiers  said 
that  the  cardinal  intended  to  round  out  his  career  by 
making  his  niece  queen  of  France.  But  Olympe  was  after- 
wards married  to  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Savoy,  and 
became  the  mother  of  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  who 
took  so  great  a  part  fifty  years  later  in  overthrowing  the 
overweening  power  of  Louis  XIV. 

The  success  of  the  campaign  in  Flanders  was  in  danger 
of  being  more  than  counterbalanced  by  another  great 
noble's  imitating  the  treasonable  conduct  of  Harcourt. 
The  Marshal  of  Hocquincourt  was  governor  of  the  im- 
portant places  of  Peronne  and  Ham,  in  Picardy.  He  was 
jealous  of  Turenne,  discontented  with  Mazarin,  and  enam- 
ored of  the  Duchess  of  Chatillon.  This  woman  remained 
politically  constant  to  Cond^,  and  she  became  a  recruiting 
sergeant  of  a  peculiar  character.  The  influence  which  she 
gained  over  great  nobles,  by  her  charms,  she  used  to  lead 
them  to  alliance  with  the  prince.  Disloyalty  was  the  price 
of  her  love.  It  was  discovered  that  under  such  influences 
Hocquincourt  was  willing  to  betray  his  places  to  Spain  for 

'  Mem.  de  Turenne,  469-473.     Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  896.,  223. 

'The  events  of  this  campaign  are  found  in  Mem.  de  Turenne  ;  Mem.  de 
York,  588-593.  Mem.  de  Bussy  Rabutin  i.,  413,  ei  seq.  Letters  of  Mazarin 
to  the  queen;  Aff.  Etr.,  896. 


284      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

a  reasonable  compensation.  Mazarin  appealed  both  to 
the  marshal's  love  and  his  avarice.  He  had  the  Duchess 
of  Chatillon  arrested  and  put  under  the  guard  of  the  Abb6 
Fouquet,  who  was  himself  known  to  be  a  very  ardent 
admirer.  He  then  offered  Hocquincourt  a  large  sum  of 
money  to  resign  his  governments.  ^  The  marshal's  anxiety 
for  the  welfare  of  the  lady  did  not  prevent  his  demanding 
a  very  exorbitant  price.  Mazarin  at  last  bought  his 
resignation  of  the  governments  of  Peronne  and  Ham  by 
paying  a  million  two  hundred  thousand  francs,  and  releas- 
ing the  Duchess  of  Chatillon  from  her  perilous  position.' 
France  had  made  considerable  gains  since  1652  in  the 
war  in  Flanders  and  along  her  northeastern  boundary. 
Armies  had  also  been  equipped  and  sent  to  Italy  and 
Catalonia.  Though  they  had  met  with  a  moderate  degree 
of  success,  their  accomplishments  had  not  been  such  as 
materially  to  change  the  aspect  of  the  war  or  hasten  its 
end.  The  Marquis  of  Hocquincourt  commanded  the 
army  sent  in  1653  to  regain  the  lost  province  of  Catalonia. 
He  met  with  but  indifferent  success,  and  the  next  year  the 
command  was  given  the  Prince  of  Conti,  as  a  reward  for 
marrying  the  cardinal's  niece.  Though  Conti  had  none 
of  his  brother's  military  genius,  his  campaign  was  attend- 
ed by  some  small  victories.  He  saved  the  important 
place  of  Roses,  which  was  nearly  all  that  France  now  held 
beyond  the  Pyrenees,  and  he  captured  Villefranche."  More 
ambitious  plans  were  made  for  1655,  but  the  result  was 
less  satisfactory.  A  fleet  was  equipped  to  act  along  the 
coast,  in  which  there  was  one  boat  of  two  thousand  tons 
burthen.'  But  it  accomplished  no  more  than  to  fight  a 
naval  battle  off  Barcelona,' where  neither  side  gained  any 
advantage.  Later  in  the  year,  Don  John  of  Austria  cap- 
tured some  places  from  the  French,  and  at  best,  the  latter 
could  claim  no  progress  this  year  in  regaining  Catalonia.* 

'  This  curious  affair  is  briefly  stated  in  Montglat,  309-311,  and  more  fully 
described  in  Mazarin's  letters  found  in  Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  896. 
'Dis.  Ven.,  cxvii.,  177.     Montglat,  303,  304. 
*Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  895.,  53.         *  Montglat,  312.     Aff.  Etr.  Fr..  897..  188. 


ff^AR  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    28^ 

The  campaigns  in  Italy  during  these  years  were  even 
more  unimportant.  But  if  the  French  gained  little  there 
by  arms,  they  gained  much  by  diplomacy.  The  Duke  of 
Mantua  had  been  induced  to  espouse  the  cause  of  Spain, 
while  France  was  suffering  defeat  during  the  Fronde. 
But  when  that  country  again  regained  its  ascendancy, 
he  once  more  sought  its  protection,  and  he  agreed  X.O 
take  Casal  from  the  Spanish  and  to  have  it  garrisoned 
by  Swiss,  who  should  be  in  the  pay  of  France.  Such  a 
measure  strengthened  the  French  position  in  Italy,  though 
Mantua  was  a  fluctuating  and  untrustworthy  ally.  A 
more  important  step  was  obtaining  the  Duke  of  Mo- 
dena  as  a  firm  friend.  Such  an  alliance  was  cemented  by 
the  marriage  of  his  son,  the  Prince  of  Modena,  in  1655, 
with  Laura  Martinozzi.'  Marriages  were  contracted  with 
the  family  of  the  cardinal  as  with  the  daughters  or  sisters 
of  a  king.  They  were  used  to  form  political  alliances,  and 
those  who  wedded  Mazarin's  nieces  attached  themselves 
to  the  interests  of  the  country  he  governed.  The  Duke 
of  Modena  continued  steadfast  in  his  friendship,  and  he 
was  made  general  of  the  French  armies  in  Italy,  and,  in 
1656,  captured  the  important  city  ofValenza. 

Though  France  had  obtained  considerable  advantages 
in  her  contest  with  Spain,  Mazarin  had  long  endeavored 
to  obtain  an  ally  which  he  believed  would  assure  the  vic- 
tory. He  could  not  hope  to  capture  the  important  cities 
of  Dunkirk  and  Gravelines  without  the  aid  of  some  mari- 
time power,  for  the  French  navy  had  become  too  weak 
for  any  such  enterprise.  When  Holland  became  involved 
in  war  with  England,  her  ambassadors  endeavored  to  ob- 
tain from  France  a  defensive  alliance  against  that  coun- 
try. Mazarin  had  no  thought  of  taking  a  step  which 
would  only  draw  upon  himself  the  indignation  of  Crom- 
well, but  he  told  the  Dutch  that  the  root  of  their  trou- 
bles was  in  Spain,  and  proceeded  from  their  error  in 
making  a  separate  peace  at  Miinster.  The  envoys  had 
no  authority  to  make  a  treaty  which  would  involve  re- 

•  Dis.  Ven.,  cxviii.,  79.     She  had  2,500,000  francs  for  her  dowry. 


286       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

newing  their  ancient  war  with   the    Spanish,  and   they 
made  no  response  to  such  overtures.' 

But  the  cardinal  sought  with  much  more  earnestness  to 
obtain  an  alliance  with  his  powerful  neighbor  across  the 
channel.  Though  the  wife  of  Charles  I.  was  the  aunt  of 
Louis  XIV.,  that  fact  had  not  led  Mazarin  to  take  any  sen- 
timental interest  in  the  civil  war  in  England.  He  minuted 
in  his  Garnets  in  1642,  that  France  had  best  take  no  part  in 
the  troubled  affairs  of  that  country."  Permission  was  given 
the  queen  of  England  to  enlist  some  troops  in  France, 
but  that  slight  assistance  was  all  that  she  received.  Still  the 
overthrow  of  Charles  I.  and  his  execution  naturally  ex- 
cited much  sympathy  in  a  sister  monarchy.  His  queen 
and  his  sons  found  refuge  and  hospitable  treatment  in 
France,  when  they  were  obliged  to  fly  from  their  own 
country.  The  French  government  was  too  much  en- 
gaged with  its  own  internal  troubles  to  be  expected  to 
give  any  aid  towards  their  restoration,  but  it  did  not  rec- 
ognize the  new  government  of  England.  The  revolu- 
tion in  England  and  the  execution  of  Charles  I.  excited 
very  different  emotions  among  the  monarchical  govern- 
ments in  Europe,  from  those  which  were  caused  when 
France  declared  herself  a  republic  in  the  following  cen- 
tury. Not  only  was  England  more  removed  from  the 
other  European  governments,  but  in  the  17th  century 
no  fear  was  entertained  of  the  spread  of  democracy. 
Holland  had  become  a  republic,  but  it  excited  no  imita- 
tors, as  the  United  States  did  later.  The  French  Revolu- 
tion came  at  a  time  when  the  most  of  Europe  was  ripe 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxvi.,  156,  Sept.,  1653.  In  the  Negociaiions  d'EsiraUes,  t. 
i.,  105,  et  seq.,  is  published  a  proposed  treaty  between  France  and  the 
Prince  of  Orange  in  1650,  by  which  he  was  to  break  with  Spain,  and  the 
allies  were  also  to  unite  in  war  with  England  and  endeavor  to  reestablish 
the  Stuarts.  With  this  is  a  letter  of  Mazarin  approving  the  plan,  and  a  let- 
ter of  Estrades.  Though  these  negotiations  have  been  related  by  M.  Cher- 
uel,  "France  sous  Mazarin,"  ii.,  350,  on  the  faith  of  these  documents,  I  am 
convinced  that  they  are  all  apocryphal.  To  give  my  reasons  would  take 
much  time  and  excite  little  interest. 

"Garnet,  i.,  135,  Dec.  31,  1642,  "  Essendo  le  coseancora  assai imbrogliate 
«  dubbie  del  parlemento  e  del  re." 


IVAJi   WITH   SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    287 

for  social  change,  and  the  old  regimes  of  every  country  felt 
that  they  must  unite  against  it  for  their  own  preservation. 

Cromwell  soon  showed  that  he  could  not  only  subdue 
any  insurrections  at  home,  but  that  the  republic  proposed 
taking  an  active  part  in  foreign  affairs.  Both  Spain  and 
France  sought  its  alliance,  and  a  diplomatic  contest  of 
some  years  followed.  Whichever  of  these  countries 
could  obtain  the  active  favor  of  Cromwell  would  be 
able  to  end  the  long  war  on  terms  that  would  be  ad- 
vantageous and  honorable.  Spain  first  decided  to  recog- 
nize the  new  government,  and,  in  December,  1650,  her 
ambassadors  were  accredited  to  the  Parliament  of  the 
republic.  This  act  was  favorably  received  by  the  Par- 
liament, and  added  to  the  advantage  which  the  Spanish 
already  possessed  in  the  good-will  of  the  English. 

If  France  was  to  make  any  serious  endeavor  to  obtain 
the  alliance  of  England,  it  was  evident  that  the  present 
government  must  be  recognized,  and,  in  January,  165 1, 
Mazarin  presented  to  the  council  a  memoir  to  that  effect. 
Honor  and  justice,  this  said,  required  that  the  king  should 
not  recognize  the  republic,  because  this  would  be  acknowl- 
edging the  authority  of  usurpers  who  had  stained  their 
hands  with  the  blood  of  their  sovereign,  and  it  would  be 
abandoning  the  cause  of  his  kinsman,  the  present  king. 
But  the  laws  of  honor  and  justice  should  not  lead  to  action 
which  was  contrary  to  the  rules  of  prudence.  The  Eng- 
lish were  masters  of  the  sea.  They  might  join  with 
Spain  and  incite  the  Huguenots  to  insurrection.  It 
would  be  well,  therefore,  to  recognize  the  republic,  but 
only  on  the  condition  that  some  advantage  should  be 
granted  France  sufficient  to  compensate  for  the  loss  of 
reputation  from  such  a  step.' 

Though  the  relations  between  the  two  countries  were 
nominally  those  of  peace,  a  guerrilla  warfare  was  actually 
waging  between  them  on  the  high  seas.  English  merchant- 
men had  suffered  severely  from  the  ravages  of  privateers, 

'  This  memoir  has  been  published  in  Revue  Nouvelle  and  in  Guizot's 
"  Revolution  d'Angleterre,"  t.  iii. 


288       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

and  it  was  claimed  that  this  damage  had  chiefly  been  in- 
flicted by  the  French.  Those  who  traded  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  with  Turkey  complained  especially  of  the 
great  losses  to  which  they  had  thus  been  exposed,  and 
demanded  compensation.'  The  French  government  de- 
nied its  responsibility  for  these  outrages,  and  it  is 
probable  that  some  of  these  privateers  were  fitted  out 
under  letters  of  marque  granted  by  Charles  the  11. 
But  many  such  ships  sailed  under  the  French  flag.  The 
new  republic  began  to  assert  very  great  authority  on  the 
sea,  and  the  English  not  only  demanded  a  large  sum  as 
compensation,  but  they  undertook  to  right  their  wrongs 
by  force.  French  ships  were  attacked  and  taken  by  the 
English  as  if  the  two  countries  were  at  war,  and  the  cap- 
ture of  the  fleet  sailing  for  the  relief  of  Dunkirk  in  1652, 
was  only  the  most  notable  of  such  exploits.  These  acts 
were  said  to  be  by  way  of  reprisal,  and  the  English 
superiority  at  sea  was  so  great,  that  neither  a  merchant- 
ship  nor  a  man-of-war  floating  the  French  flag  felt  safe 
out  of  sight  of  land,  nor  even  when  moored  at  its  own 
harbor. 

Mazarin  endeavored  to  obtain  from  England,  as  a  con- 
dition of  recognizing  the  republic,  either  a  treaty  of  alli- 
ance or,  at  least,  a  commercial  treaty  which  should  stop 
such  injuries.'  But  the  republic  declined  to  barter  for  its 
recognition,  and,  in  1652,  when  Gravelines  was  in  danger 
from  the  Spanish,  and  it  could  be  rescued  only  by  sea, 
Mazarin  directed  Estrades  to  offer  Dunkirk  to  the  Eng- 
lish, if  they  would  relieve  Gravelines  and  agree  to  assist 
France  in  the  war  with  Spain.  He  was  to  obtain  also,  if 
possible,  two  or  three  million  livres  as  a  condition  of  the 
cession  of  so  important  a  port.' 

'  Bordeaux  a  Brienne,  April  14,  1653.     Aff.  Etr.  Ang.,  62. 

*  Instruction  i  Gentillot,  Feb.,  165 1  ;  h.  Estrades,  April  23,  1652. 

*  Mazarin  i  Estrades,  April  23,  1652.  In  the  "  Ambassadesd'  Estrades,"  t. 
i.,  103-107,  is  a  letter  from  Estrades  saying  that  an  agent  of  Cromwell  in 
Feb.,  1652,  had  offered  to  furnish  2,000,000  in  money  and  50  ships  and 
15,000  men  for  the  war  against  Spain,  as  a  condition  of  the  cession  of  Dun- 
kirk.    There  is  also  a  letter  of  Mazarin  in  reply  saying  he  was  in  favor  of  ac- 


PFAA'   WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    289 

Such  negotiations  were  fruitless.  The  English  were 
more  inclined  to  ally  themselves  with  Spain  or  to  assist 
Cond^,  and  to  hope  that  they  might  gain  Calais  or  La 
Rochelle  as  the  result  of  such  a  policy.  Mazarin  decided 
to  delay  no  longer  in  the  unconditional  recognition  of  the 
republic,  and  on  December  2,  1652,  Bordeaux  was  form- 
ally accredited  as  envoy  of  France  to  the  new  government. 
But  the  members  of  the  Parliament  were  exceedingly 
tenacious  that  there  should  be  no  informality  in  the 
treatment  they  received  from  more  ancient  governments. 
Louis  XIV.'s  letter  was  addressed  to  his  "  dear  and  great 
friends  "  and  the  Parliament  refused  to  accept  it.'  A  new 
letter  was  addressed  to  the  Parliament  of  the  Republic 
of  England,  and  the  minister  was  thereupon  formally  re- 
ceived. The  recognition  of  the  republican  government 
was  a  cause  of  complaint  to  many  in  France.  Henrietta 
Marie  wrote  that  since  the  death  of  her  husband  she  had 
felt  nothing  so  much  as  that  her  kinsman  should  recog- 
nize those  infamous  traitors."  Many  others  also  disap- 
proved of  the  measure,  but  Mazarin  proceeded  in  his 
endeavors  to  gain  a  powerful  ally,  and  paid  little  atten- 
tion to  their  remonstrances.  He  found,  however,  that  in 
Cromwell  he  had  a  difficult  person  with  whom  to  deal. 
Mazarin  sent  to  him  a  personal  letter  of  compliment,  and 
he  replied  that  he  esteemed  this  a  very  great  honor  and 
held  himself  obliged  to  send  his  thanks  for  so  singular  a 

cepting  the  offer,  but  Chateauneuf  overruled  him  and  induced  the  king  to 
decline  it.  These  letters  are  accepted  as  genuine  by  Guizot  and  Martin. 
With  great  respect  for  such  eminent  authorities,  I  am  convinced  that  they  are 
fictitious.  Among  many  other  reasons,  Cromwell  is  spoken  of  as  Protector,  x 
year  and  a  half  before  he  had  that  title.  Mazarin's  answer  is  dated  from  a  place 
where  he  was  not  at  the  time.  Chateauneuf  is  stated  to  have  controlled  the 
council,  at  a  time  when  he  had  been  retired  in  disgrace.  The  offer  was  such  a 
one  as  Cromwell  would  never  have  made,  and  the  letter  was  such  a  one  fis 
Mazarin  would  never  have  written. 

'  Instructions  4  Bordeaux  and  Lettre  de  Louis  XIV.,  Dec.  2,  1652.  Aff. 
Etr.  Ang.,  61. 

'Aff.  Etr.  Ang.,  61.  Letter  of  Henriette  Marie,  Dec.  15.  1652.  This 
letter  has  been  published  in  "  Letters  of  Queen  Henrietta  Maria,"  edited  by 
Mary  Anne  Green. 


290      FRANCE  UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

favor.'  But  all  of  Mazarin's  blandishments  were  wasted 
upon  the  man  who  was  now  the  ruler  of  England. 

France  was  unpopular  with  the  English  people,  and 
with  the  leaders  of  the  Parliament.  The  relationship  of 
Louis  XIV.  with  the  English  queen,  and  the  protection 
given  to  Charles  II.  were  regarded  as  a  constant  menace 
to  the  present  government."  Even  the  fact  that  France 
was  controlled  by  a  cardinal  who,  it  was  thought,  must 
necessarily  be  an  attached  follower  of  the  Pope,  was  urged 
as  a  reason  against  forming  any  alliance  with  that  coun- 
try.' Bordeaux  began  by  urging  the  return  of  the  ships 
captured  at  Dunkirk  and  elsewhere,  but  he  met  with 
chilly  refusals.  The  English,  the  ambassador  reported,  were 
much  to  be  feared,  and  it  would  be  better  to  abandon  any 
requests  of  this  sort.  They  were  carrying  on  with  vigor 
and  success  a  naval  war  against  Holland,  and  enjoying 
the  great  consideration  and  influence  which  their  country 
now  had  in  the  affairs  of  Europe.  They  talked  only  of 
new  conquests,  the  minister  wrote,  and  they  treated  the 
requests  of  France  with  very  little  attention.  They  de- 
clared that  England  should  be  the  mistress  of  the  Baltic 
and  that  the  Union  Jack  should  drive  all  enemies  out  of 
the  Mediterranean.* 

Though  abandoning  any  hope  of  obtaining  redress  for 
the  ships  that  had  been  taken,  Bordeaux  prosecuted  his 
endeavors  to  obtain  some  treaty  between  the  two  coun- 
tries. The  English  merchants  wished  to  be  free  from  any 
further  injury  to  their  commerce,  and  the  most  of  them 
cared  more  for  that  than  for  their  claims  for  past  damages." 
It  was  urged  that  the  interests  of  both  nations  would  be 
advanced  by  a  speedy  settlement  of  their  troubles,'  but  the 
English  generals  told  Bordeaux  they  should  not  make  a 
treaty  simply  for  the  interest  of  some  merchants,  but  only 
upon  more  important  and  far-reaching  considerations. 

'  Letter,  Jan.   26,  1653.     Aflf.    Etr.  Ang..  61.     This  and  many  of  the 
letters  of  Bordeaux  are  published  in  Cosnac's  "  Souvenirs  de  I^ouis  XIV." 
'  Bordeaux  a  Brienne,  Feb.  10,  1653.         *  Pott  i  Mazarin,  April  27,  1654. 

*  Bordeaux  i  Brienne,  March  3,  6,  1653,  et passim,  Aff.  Etr.  Ang.,  62. 

•  lb.,  April  14,  July  7th,  etpas. 


IVAR  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    29I 

It  had  been  a  part  of  the  conditions  granted  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  Parliament  of  Paris  in  1648,  that  the  importa* 
tion  of  English  woollen  and  silk  stuffs  into  France  should 
be  forbidden.  England  retaliated  by  measures  against 
French  wools,  silks,  and  wines.  The  English  desired  the 
abolition  of  these  pernicious  regulations,  and  they  wished 
to  know  if  that  would  be  included  in  the  treaty  that  was 
proposed.'  Cromwell  had  not  yet  decided  whether  he 
would  incline  the  balance  in  favor  of  Spain  or  France,  and 
he  procrastinated  in  a  manner  that  made  it  impossible  to 
discover  his  desires.  The  forms  of  language  which  he 
adopted  added  to  the  obscurity  that  veiled  his  conduct. 
Mazarin  sent  in  June,  1653,  another  personal  letter  ex- 
pressed in  the  fluent  flattery  of  which  he  was  a  master. 
The  reply  of  the  head  of  the  English  nation  contrasts 
curiously  with  the  cardinal's  style.  "  It  is  surprise  to  me 
that  your  Eminency  should  take  notice  of  a  person  so  in- 
considerable as  myself,  living  (as  it  were)  separate  from  the 
world.  This  honor  has  done  (as  it  ought)  a  very  deep  im- 
pression upon  me,  and  does  oblige  me  to  serve  your 
Eminency  upon  all  occasions,  so  as  I  shall  be  happy  to 
find  out.  So  I  trust  that  very  honorable  person.  Mon- 
sieur Burdoe,  will  therein  be  helpful  to  your  Eminencies' 
thrice  humble  servant.  O.  CROMWELL."* 

His  interviews  with  the  French  minister  furnished  little 
more  light  on  his  views,  than  was  found  in  his  correspond- 
ence. Bordeaux  said  that  the  king  of  France  was  much 
inclined  to  an  accommodation  between  the  two  nations. 
*'A  just  war  is  better  than  an  unjust  peace,"  replied 
Cromwell.  The  minister  then  expressed  his  thanks  that 
no  aid  had  been  given  the  rebels  in  France,  but  his  only 
answer  was,  that  the  English  were  busy  with  other  affairs, 
and  that  the  Spanish  had  been  expected  to  furnish  this 
assistance.* 

'  /^.,  March  20th  and  April  loth. 

*  This  letter  is  found  among  the  Archives  des  Affaires  Etrangeres.  It 
has  been  published  by  Guizot  in  the  appendices  to  his  "  Histoire  de  la  Revo- 
lution d'Angleterre."  '  Bordeaux,  i  Brienne,  Aug.  7,  1653. 


292       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND   MAZARIN. 

The  French  government  endeavored  to  bring  England 
to  make  some  terms  by  suggesting  that  France  might  ally 
herself  with  Holland,  but  the  threat  did  not  excite  fear.' 
Bordeaux  was  himself  apprehensive  that  if  the  English 
obtained  from  Holland  the  terms  they  desired,  they  would 
be  still  more  difficult  to  deal  with,  and  the  French  made 
great  but  unsuccessful  endeavors  to  be  included  in  the 
treaty  between  those  countries.  The  success  of  that  war 
made  Cromwell  still  more  independent  in  his  action.  Bor- 
deaux wrote  that  the  English  republic  assumed  a  greater 
superiority  than  any  prince  had  ever  pretended  to,  and 
claimed  the  sovereignty  of  the  sea  as  its  patrimony.* 

As  the  power  of  Cromwell  increased,  Spain  and  France 
became  more  eager  in  their  endeavors  to  gain  his  help. 
The  Spanish  offered  to  pay  over  three  million  francs  a  year 
for  his  assistance,  and  this  filled  Mazarin  with  indignation. 
"  They  offer  it,"  he  wrote,  "  without  having  a  sou  to  pay 
with,  if  he  should  take  them  at  their  word." '  Notwithstand- 
ing their  impecuniosity,  the  prospect  seemed  very  strong 
that  Cromwell  would  choose  them  for  his  allies.  This  prop- 
osition was  discussed  before  the  Spanish  council,  and  diffi- 
culty was  apprehended  in  making  the  payments,  which 
would  be  an  essential  condition,  as  it  was  known  that  the 
English  were  very  exact  and  very  greedy.  But  such  an 
alliance  was  regarded  as  the  plank  of  safety  for  the  Spanish 
monarchy,  amid  the  perils  with  which  it  was  surrounded^ 
and  it  was  decided  that  every  effort  should  be  made  to 
obtain  it.* 

Still  Cromwell  delayed  any  final  action,  and  waited  to  see 
by  what  alliance  the  interests  and  the  ambition  of  England 
could  be  most  advanced.  Mazarin  offered  first  1,200,000 
and  then  1,800,000  livres  a  year,  if  Cromwell  would  declare 
war  against  Spain.  The  French  would  also  assist  him  in 
the  capture  of  Dunkirk,  which  should  belong  to  England, 
and  all  other  conquests  made  by  the  allies  jointly  should 

'  Memoir  from  Bordeaux,  July  loth.  *  Letter  of  December  6,  1653. 

'Mazarin  i  Bordeaux,  April  iS,  1654. 

*  Minutes  of  Council  of  April  14th,  printed  by  Guizot. 


^^ 


W04i?  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREA  TY  WITH  ENGLAND.    293 

be  equally  divided.'  These  terms  were  as  good  as  those 
which  Cromwell  finally  obtained,  but  he  did  not  accept 
them  for  the  present.  The  result  of  the  siege  of  Arras 
was  waited  for,  and  the  Protector  was  not  yet  ready  to 
involve  himself  in  another  foreign  war. 

The  French  grew  weary  of  such  delays,  and  these  were 
aggravated  by  the  treatment  which  they  received  from 
their  neighbors.  One  of  the  French  envoys  formed  the 
mistaken  opinion  that  Cromwell's  power  could  be  easily 
overthrown,  and  became  identified  with  those  who  were 
constantly  engaged  in  laying  fruitless  plots  agains^t  the 
Protector.  He  was  accused  of  being  implicated  in  some 
plot  to  murder  Cromwell,  and  sent  at  once  out  of  the 
country.  Mazarin  said  it  was  hard  to  be  called  assassins 
and  to  bear  such  affronts,  but  his  desire  was  still  to  avoid 
recalling  the  minister  at  London  and  so  escape  any  diplo- 
matic rupture.'  The  English  continued  capturing  French 
ships  on  various  pretexts,  or  on  no  pretexts,  but  Mazarin 
was  loath  to  order  reprisals.  The  merchants  offered 
to  pay  the  expenses  of  sixty  good  vessels  to  check  these 
piratical  enterprises  of  the  English,  but  the  French  coun- 
cil gave  no  answer  to  the  proposition,  lest  it  might  cause 
an  open  rupture."  The  countries  might  have  been  re- 
garded as  at  war  now,  but  Mazarin  was  resolved  to  say 
they  were  at  peace,  whatever  the  English  did.  Even  if 
there  was  a  rupture,  he  said,  so  long  as  the  English  con- 
tented themselves  with  hostilities  on  the  sea,  it  would  be 
best  to  claim  this  was  only  what  had  been  done  before, 
and  not  make  any  clamor  about  it.*  The  Venetian  am- 
bassador said  France  treated  England  not  only  with  re- 
spect, but  almost  with  servility.' 

The  negotiations  for  a  treaty  continued  during  all  the 
year  1654,  but  it  was  impossible  to  ascertain  what  decision 
Cromwell   would   make.     Mazarin    said    the   Protector's 

'  Mazarin  i  Boas,  March  27,  1654.     Instructions  i  Bordeaux,  July  i6th. 
'Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  893.,  31.  'Dis.  Ven.,  cxvii,  318,  334,  360,  etseq. 

*  Mazarin  i  Servien,  July  3,  1654.     Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  893. 

*  Dis.  Ven.,  cxviii,  33,  "  non  solo  con  rispetto,  ma  con  una  spezie  di  ser- 
vitu  " 


294      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

conduct  was  so  involved,  that  there  was  no  certainty  of  a 
treaty  until  it  was  signed,  and  the  ambassador  admitted 
that  he  could  not  penetrate  his  thoughts.'  The  terms  that 
he  demanded  were  such,  that  even  Mazarin  was  unwilling^ 
to  comply  with  all  of  them.  It  was  asked  that  some 
strong  place  should  at  once  be  placed  in  the  possession  of 
England  to  guarantee  the  execution  of  the  treaty,  and 
that  the  Protector  should  have  the  right  to  see  that  the 
edicts  in  favor  of  the  Huguenots  were  scrupulously  exe- 
cuted. But  the  cardinal  would  not  allow  Cromwell,  in  his 
zeal  to  become  the  head  and  protector  of  all  the  Protest- 
ants of  Europe,  to  constitute  himself  the  special  guardian 
of  those  of  France.  He  replied  that  the  Huguenots  were 
well  treated  and  contented,  and  were  among  the  most  faith- 
ful and  zealous  of  the  king's  subjects." 

But  on  another  point  Cromwell  was  more  tenacious 
and  more  successful.  The  presence  of  the  Stuarts  in 
France  made  that  country  an  object  of  suspicion  to  his 
followers,  and  he  insisted  that  they  should  be  expelled. 
Bordeaux's  instructions  told  him  that  it  would  be  a  sort 
of  disgrace  that  a  sovereign  could  not  offer  a  retreat  to 
his  unfortunate  kinsmen,  but  at  the  same  time  it  was  not 
worth  while  to  lose  the  alliance  of  England  against  Spain 
for  a  matter  of  hospitality.'  Charles  the  Second  was  ac- 
cordingly required  to  leave  France,  but  Cromwell  con- 
sented that  the  Duke  of  York  might  remain  in  the  French 
service  if  he  was  transferred  to  the  army  in  Italy.*  A 
question  of  precedence  still  remained,  but  on  that  Crom- 
well yielded.  Mazarin  wrote  that  if  he  would  take  the 
title  of  king  he  should  be  treated  as  possessing  equal 
dignity  with  the  king  of  France,  but  it  could  not  be  done 
while  he  did  not  bear  the  same  rank.* 

But  still  the  treaty  was  not  signed,  though  events  were 
pushing    Cromwell    towards    an    alliance   with    France. 

'  Letter  of  Bordeaux,  May  26,  1653.     *  Mazarin  k  Bordeaux,  July  20, 1654. 

•  Instructions  pour  Bordeaux,  Aug.  24lh. 

*  Charles  left  France  more  than  a  year  before  the  execution  of  the  treaty 
with  Cromwell,  but  his  departure  was  requested  on  account  of  Cromwell's 
complaints.  Dis.  Ven,,  cxvii.,  132.     *  Mazarin  4  Bordeaux,  Jan.  15,1655. 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    295 

Cond6  still  endeavored  to  obtain  his  aid.  He  wrote  the 
Protector  that  he  deemed  the  people  of  the  three  king- 
doms most  happy,  because  they  were  under  the  charge  of 
so  great  a  man,  and  that  England's  safety  and  repose  were 
due  to  his  merit  and  virtue.'  But  Cromwell  was  not 
won  by  flattery,  and  he  said  that  Cond^  was  a  babbler 
and  a  rattlehead,  who  was  betrayed  by  his  own  friends. 
Late  in  1654  an  expedition  left  England  which  was 
thought  to  be  intended  against  some  of  the  Spanish 
colonies,  but  governments  were  not  quick  to  imagine 
offence  against  England  under  Cromwell,  and  Spain  in- 
creased her  endeavors  for  an  alliance.  Cromwell,  however, 
had  at  last  decided  that  more  could  be  conquered  from 
Spain  than  from  France,  but  his  final  action  was  again  de- 
layed by  the  massacre  of  the  Vaudois. 

This  little  people  of  dissenters  had  long  been  tolerated 
in  the  dominions  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  and  their  perse- 
cution was  one  of  the  last  acts  of  religious  bigotry.  In 
January,  1655,  the  inhabitants  of  most  of  their  communes 
were  ordered  by  the  Duke  of  Savoy  to  leave  within  three 
days  on  pain  of  death,  and  to  sell  the  property  they 
owned  in  them  within  twenty  days.  While  they  remon- 
strated against  so  rigorous  a  measure,  some  troops  entered 
their  territory  to  enforce  it,  and  soon  passed  from  severity 
to  violence.  During  eight  days  these  unhappy  people  were 
subjected  to  every  variety  of  the  most  hideous  and  brutal 
outrage — to  robbery,  torture,  rape,  and  murder.  This  act 
was  at  first  hailed  by  some,  as  one  that  had  given  great 
lustre  to  religion.*  The  duke  approved  of  this  slaughter, 
and  asked  Louis  XIV.  to  prevent  his  Huguenot  subjects 
from  sending  money  or  men  to  the  assistance  of  their 
persecuted    brethren.     Such   an    act   was   distasteful    to 

'  Conde  i  Cromwell,  Dec,  1653. 

*  Dis.  Yen.,  cxviii.,  70.  "  3,000  heretics  have  been  slain  by  fire  and  sword," 
he  writes,  "and  200  children  taken  from  their  parents  to  be  reared  in  the 
Catholic  faith."  "  Questa  attione  ha  dato  gran  lustro  alia  religione."  It 
should  be  said  that  Sangredo,  who  was  then  the  ambassador  from  Venice  to 
France,  seems  to  hnve  been  the  most  stupid  and  wrong-headed  of  all  her 
representatives  there. 


296      FRANCE  UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Mazarin's  tolerant  views,  and  he  did  not  approve  of  it, 
though  probably  he  was  little  disturbed  by  it.' 

But  the  Vaudois  found  a  protector  powerful  enough  to 
frighten  their  persecutors.  If  Cromwell  desired  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  defender  of  the  faith,  he  was  willing  to  exer- 
cise the  duties  of  the  office.  His  remonstrances  were  at 
once  presented  to  the  Court  of  Savoy  in  a  manner  so 
decided  that  they  compelled  attention.  A  regiment  of 
French  had  been  among  the  soldiers  acting  under  Sa- 
voy's orders,  who  had  been  employed  in  these  atrocities. 
The  Protector  wrote  Louis,  saying  that  he  trusted  this 
had  been  without  his  approval,  and  asking  that  the  influ- 
ence of  France  with  Savoy  should  be  used  in  behalf  of  the 
persecuted  Vaudois.  It  was  intimated  to  Bordeaux  that 
no  treaty  would  be  signed  with  France,  until  she  had  ex- 
erted all  her  power  with  the  Duke  of  Savoy  to  obtain  for 
the  Vaudois  the  rights  of  which  they  had  been  deprived.' 
Such  a  suggestion  quickened  Mazarin's  zeal  for  toleration. 
The  Duke  of  Savoy  was  informed  that  he  must  abandon 
his  position  at  once,  and  cease  the  persecution  of  his  sub- 
jects. He  had  no  alternative  but  to  obey,  and  in  August, 
1655,  most  of  the  ancient  privileges  of  the  Vaudois  were 
restored,  and  their  duke  was  obliged  to  discontinue  pillag- 
ing and  murdering  them.  Even  those  who  at  first  ap- 
proved his  acts  had  decided  that  after  tolerating  the  Vau- 
dois so  long  Savoy  had  better  wait  for  a  better  opportunity 
before  beginning  any  persecutions.*  Those  who  bore  no 
love  to  England  confessed  that  she  was  now  the  most 
feared  and  the  most  conspicuous  government  in  the  world, 
and  that  almost  all  of  Europe  was  suing  for  her  alliance.* 
She  held  no  such  position  at  any  other  period  between  the 
death  of  Elizabeth  and  the  accession  of  William,  and  her 
influence  was  as  great  under  Cromwell  as  it  was  contempti- 
ble under  the  Stuarts. 

'  Dis.  Ven,,  cxviii.,  81,  87. 

'  Bordeaux  4  Brienne,  May  27th,  August  26th,  et passim. 

•  Dis.  Ven.,  cxviii.,  86. 

*  Ibid.,  103.     "  La  corte  d'lnghilterra  e  la  piu  temuta  e  la  piu  conspicua 
del  mondo." 


WA/d  WITH  SPAIN-  AND  TREA  TY  WITH  ENGLAND.    297 

On  November  3,  1655,  the  treaty  of  Westminster  be- 
tween France  and  England  was  at  last  signed,  and  Spain 
lost  her  only  hope  of  success.  These  long  negotiations 
well  illustrate  Mazarin's  character.  He  showed  much  hu- 
mility and  some  lack  of  dignity  in  his  endeavors  to  obtain 
Cromwell's  alliance.  He  was  resolved  he  would  take  no 
offence  at  what  England  did  ;  he  abandoned  the  Stuarts  ; 
when  he  was  smitten  on  one  cheek  he  turned  the  other  to 
the  smiter,  but  at  last  he  obtained  what  he  desired,  and 
that  which  he  desired  was  what  France  needed.  If  Mazarin 
had  been  punctilious  and  eager  to  take  offence,  his  histori- 
cal pose  would  at  times  seem  more  heroic,  but  he  might 
have  driven  England  into  a  Spanish  alliance,  and  the  great 
war  which  forever  established  France's  superiority  might 
have  been  ended  with  disaster  and  disgrace,  with  Calais 
ceded  to  England,  Alsace  to  Spain,  and  Guienne  to  the 
Prince  of  Cond6  as  an  independent  sovereign. 

The  treaty  that  was  signed  provided  for  no  alliance 
against  Spain,  and  did  little  more  than  regulate  the  com- 
mercial relations  of  the  countries.  It  declared  that  all  re- 
prisals and  letters  of  marque  should  cease  ;  commissioners 
should  decide  upon  the  losses  that  had  already  been  sus- 
tained ;  in  the  future  vessels  of  either  country  could 
€nter  the  ports  of  the  other,  and  various  restrictions  on 
trade  were  removed.  Neither  nation  should  give  any  aid 
to  rebels  or  enemies  of  the  other,  and  certain  persons  were 
to  be  expelled  from  the  respective  territories,  among 
whom  were  Charles,  eldest  son  of  the  late  king,  and  his 
brothers.'  The  friends  of  the  Stuarts  complained  of  this 
alliance  with  a  usurper,  and  some  of  the  clergy  protested 
against  a  treaty  with  heretics,  lest  it  might  be  prejudicial 
to  the  cause  of  religion,  but  the  Duke  of  York  himself 
admitted  that  Mazarin  would  have  been  an  unfaithful 
servant  of  the  crown,  if  he  had  omitted  to  secure  Crom- 
well in  the  interests  of  France.* 

'  Dumont,  Corps  Dip.,  vi.,  121-3.  The  article  about  those  who  were  to 
be  exiled  was  secret.  Charles  had  already  been  asked  to  retire  and  had  left 
PVance.  *  Dis.  Ven.,  cxix.,  3.     Mem.  de  York,  594. 


298       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Immediately  after  the  ratification  of  the  peace  of  West- 
minster, war  was  formally  declared  between  England  and 
Spain,  and  Cromwell  was  then  ready  to  proceed  further  and 
make  an  alliance  with  France.  But  Mazarin  had  already 
obtained  what  was  of  most  importance.  England  was  at 
war  with  Spain,  and  she  had  ceased  to  harass  France  on 
the  sea.  He  wished,  before  committing  himself  further, 
to  see  if  a  satisfactory  peace  with  Spain  could  not  now 
be  made.  Cromwell  desired  to  send  Lockhart  as  ambas- 
sador to  the  French  Court,  but  Mazarin  anticipated  that 
with  the  feeling  that  then  existed  his  presence  might  be 
embarrassing.  He  instructed  Bordeaux,  if  possible,  to  dis- 
suade the  Protector  from  sending  any  representative  to 
France,  but  the  minister  was  unsuccessful  in  his  efforts.' 
Ladies  ran  away  to  hide  themselves  when  they  heard  that 
an  ambassador  from  the  regicides  and  republicans  of  Eng- 
land was  to  be  at  the  Court.  '  It  was  feared  that  there 
might  be  some  disturbance  if  he  was  publicly  received  at 
Paris ;  but  Lockhart  arrived,  was  courteously  treated  by 
the  government,  and  escaped  all  manifestations  of  dislike 
from  any  quarter." 

When  it  was  known  that  the  treaty  of  Westminster 
had  been  made,  and  when  England  had  declared  war,  the 
archduke  advised  Philip  IV.  that  it  was  hopeless  for 
Spain  to  contend  against  France,  England,  and  Portugal, 
and  that  he  had  best  make  terms  without  delay.*  That 
monarch  was  himself  a  silent  and  apparently  unconcerned 
observer  of  the  decline  of  the  empire  which  he  ruled.  It 
was  said  that  for  weeks  he  did  not  speak  a  word  and  laughter 
was  unknown  to  him.  Such  taciturnity  did  not  indicate 
any  profound  meditations.  Philip  hunted  much  ;  he  listen- 
ed to  music  and  looked  at  pictures  somwhat,  and  he  heard 
of  the  loss  of  cities  and  provinces  in  silence  and  apathy. 

His  chief  minister  Don  Luis  de  Haro  still  hoped  for  the 
turn  of  fortune  which  was  so  slow  in  coming,  but  a  secret 

'  Mazarin  ^  Bordeaux,  April  26,  1656.  Bordeaux  i  Brienne,  May  ist, 
i^eq.  '  Dis.  Ven.,  cxix.,  52-55.     Montpensier,  iii.,  283. 

*  Instructions  of  Feb'y  8,  1656,  published  by  Valfrey. 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    299 

messenger  now  intimated  a  desire  for  a  conference  to  see  if 
peace  could  not  be  made.  Lionne  was  sent  to  Madrid  with 
much  secrecy  in  the  summer  of  1656,  and  he  began  nego- 
tiations with  Haro  for  peace  between  the  two  countries. 
After  much  haggling,  during  which  the  French  envoy  sev- 
eral times  packed  his  saddle  bags  and  declared  he  would 
leave  the  next  morning,  it  was  at  last  agreed  that  Roussil- 
lon,  Arras,  and  a  large  portion  of  Artois  should  be  ceded 
to  France,  and  with  that  Lionne  was  content.  But  the 
diplomats  were  unable  to  agree  concerning  the  interests 
of  the  Prince  of  Cond^.  Mazarin  was  willing  that  he 
should  have  his  estates  and  titles,  but  he  refused  to  restore 
the  governments  and  offices  which  had  helped  to  render 
Cond6  so  powerful,  and  with  which  he  could  begin  a  new 
rebellion.'  The  prince  demanded  these,  and  the  Spanish 
ministers  supported  his  demands  in  a  manner  that  spoke 
much  for  their  chivalry  and  little  for  their  judgment.  The 
Spanish  council  declared  that  this  was  a  matter  of  honor, 
and  on  such  a  question  the  king  was  justified  in  risking  and 
even  in  losing  all  of  his  states."  Lionne  hinted  at  a  marriage 
of  Louis  XIV.  with  the  Infanta  as  a  solution  for  some  of 
these  difficulties,  but  the  Spanish  did  not  wish  to  incur 
the  possibility  that  such  an  alliance  might  result  in  the 
king  of  France  becoming  also  the  king  of  Spain,  and  the 
negotiations  were  broken  off.* 

The  campaign  of  1656  was  also  unfortunate,  and  its 
reverses  made  the  Spanish  more  resolute  in  the 
terms  on  which  they  insisted.  The  French,  under  the 
command  of  Turenne,  laid  siege  to  Valenciennes,  one  of  the 
strongest  and  most  important  cities  in  the  Spanish  Low 
Countries.  Its  garrison  consisted  of  fifteen  hundred  men, 
who  were  aided  by  the  efforts  of  the  citizens,  while  Cond6 
led  twenty  thousand  men  near  Turenne's  encampment,  in 
the  hope  of  raising  the  siege.     An  opportunity  was  fur- 

'  Mazarin  i  Bordeaux,  Nov.  19,  1656. 

•  Rapport  de  Lionne,  Sept.  23,  1656.     A£f.  Etr.  Spain,  32. 

*  The  letters  and  documents  in  reference  to  this  negotiation  are  published 
in  "  Ambassades  de  Lionne  en  Espagne  "  and  in  "  Negodations  relatives 
k  la  Succession  d'E^pagne,"  t.  i. 


300       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

nished  him,  for  La  Fert6  Seneterre  was  sent  to  command 
a  portion  of  the  army.  Seneterre  had  served  under  Cond6, 
and  the  prince  knew  his  rashness  and  inefficiency.  Cond^ 
attacked  the  lines  during  the  night  of  July  15th,  in  the 
portion  where  Seneterre  was  in  command,  found  them 
ill  guarded,  and  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat  on  that  divi- 
sion of  the  army.  Turenne  could  do  nothing  for  their  re- 
lief, but  Seneterre  did  the  best  he  could  for  the  service  by 
managing  to  be  taken  prisoner.  The  siege  was  raised,  and 
Turenne,  after  the  severe  loss  the  army  had  suffered,  was 
in  a  condition  of  some  peril.  His  troops  were  so  demoral- 
ized by  the  disastrous  effects  of  this  nocturnal  attack,  that 
a  hare  running  through  the  camp  on  the  following  night 
excited  an  alarm  and  caused  such  consternation,  that  had 
the  Spanish  attacked  them  they  might  have  gained  an 
easy  victory.'  They  did  not  do  so,  and  almost  the  only 
advantage  they  derived  from  their  success  was  the  capture 
of  the  town  of  Cond^.' 

During  this  year  troubles  again  rose  between  the  king 
and  the  Parliament.  The  cavalier  treatment  which  the 
body  received  in  1655  did  not  destroy  all  spirit  of  resistance, 
and  the  position  on  which  it  next  took  its  stand  compelled 
the  government  to  make  some  concessions.  The  finances 
were  becoming  more  involved,  and  among  other  devices 
for  new  taxation,  the  government  resorted  to  the  worst 
of  all,  and  in  January,  1656,  issued  a  decree  depreciating 
the  coinage.  The  Parliament  remonstrated,  and  ex- 
pressed the  opposition  of  merchants  and  citizens  to  so 
pernicious  a  measure.  The  king  insisted  that  the  regula- 
tion of  the  currency  was  a  matter  wholly  out  of  their  juris- 
diction. The  members  persisted  in  their  resolve  to  discuss 
the  matter,  and  thereupon  five  of  them  were  at  once  or- 
dered to  retire  from  Paris.  The  Parliaments  of  Toulouse 
and  Grenoble  joined  in  similar  protestations,  and  declared 
that  the  new  pieces  should  not  be  current  in  their  districts. 

,^^^     '  Mem.  de  Bussy  Rabutin,  ii.,  14.     Rabutin  served  under  Turenne  in  this 
cwnpaign,  and  until  the  end  of  the  war. 

■■"Bussy  Rabutin,   ii.,   9-24,     Turenne,   475-482.     Dis.    Ven.,  cxix.,  80, 
loi,  et pas. 


WAH  WITH  SPAIN  AND  TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.    30I 

Against  such  protests,  the  government  yielded  in  part, 
and  modified  the  decree  so  far  as  it  concerned  silver,  but 
the  Parliament  remonstrated  against  what  still  remained. 
It  declared  the  edict  of  the  council  of  state  annulled,  and 
thereupon  seven  more  members  were  banished  and  the 
advocate-general  was  thrown  into  the  Bastille.  The  new 
gold  pieces  were  issued,  but  difficulties  grew  out  of  their 
circulation,  and  the  burden  of  all  these  new  and  old  imposi- 
tions stirred  up  bad  feeling,  if  not  actual  outbreaks,  in 
many  of  the  provinces.  The  Parliament  had  now  sus- 
pended its  sessions  for  the  administration  of  justice,  and 
in  addition  to  such  embarrassment,  the  assembly  of  the 
clergy  was  full  of  complaints,  and  refused  to  vote  what  the 
government  demanded.  Even  that  sum  was  far  less  than 
the  burden,  which  should  have  fallen  upon  the  enormous 
estates  of  the  church,  had  they  been  taxed  in  the  same 
proportion  as  other  property  in  the  kingdon.  Terms  were 
at  last  made  with  the  judges.  Those  imprisoned  or  ban- 
ished were  returned  to  their  body,  the  right  of  the  Parlia- 
ment to  take  cognizance  over  any  change  of  monies  was 
recognized,  the  judges  promised  that  in  the  future 
they  would  submit  themselves  kindly  to  the  royal  desires^ 
and  they  began  again  the  administration  of  justice.' 

After  the  poor  success  of  this  year,  Mazarin  was  quite 
willing  to  consider  a  more  intimate  treaty  of  alliance  with 
Cromwell.  Delay  was  caused,  because  Mazarin  would  not 
involve  France  in  schemes  so  large  as  those  which  attracted 
the  Protector,  but  a  treaty  was  signed  on  March  23,  1657^ 
by  which  the  two  nations  formed  an  alliance  for  one  year. 
Gravelines,  Mardyke,  and  Dunkirk  were  to  be  besieged 
successively,  the  English  furnishing  a  fleet  and  France 
twenty  thousand  men.  England  was  also  to  furnish  six 
thousand  soldiers  on  land,  but  they  were  to  be  paid  by  the 
French.  Dunkirk  and  Mardyke  were  to  be  given  to  the 
English  for  their  assistance,  and  Gravelines  was  to  belong 
to  France. 

'  The  only  account  of  these  transactions  of  which  I  am  aware  is  found  in 
the  despatches  of  the  Venetian  ambassador,  t.  cxviii,  257,  ft  pas.  ;  cxix.,  13, 
22,  24,  30,    ft  pas. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

PEACE   OF  THE   PYRENEES  AND   DEATH   OF   MAZARIN. 

The  beginning  of  the  campaign  was  unfavorable  for  the 
new  allies.  The  English  troops  did  not  arrive  until  late 
in  May,  and  when  the  army  was  at  last  in  the  field  it  was 
unsuccessful.  The  French  endeavored  to  capture  Cam- 
brai,  but  Cond^  succeeded  by  great  promptness  and  skill 
in  throwing  reinforcements  into  the  place,  and  Turenne 
was  obliged  to  abandon  the  siege.  Seneterre  then  invested 
Montmedi,  but  it  was  nearly  two  months  before  the  place 
surrendered.  The  Spanish  in  the  meantime  undertook  an 
expedition  in  the  hope  of  surprising  Calais,  but  they 
came  too  late  and  the  enterprise  resulted  in  nothing. 
They  then  marched  back  and  failed  in  an  attempt  to  raise 
the  siege  of  Saint  Venant,  and  after  that  themselves 
began  the  siege  of  Ardres.  Turenne  now  captured  Saint 
Venant  and  compelled  the  Spanish  to  raise  the  siege 
of  Ardres. 

The  marshal's  success  after  the  campaign  was  fairly 
opened  was  greatly  assisted  by  the  inefficiency  of  the  gen- 
erals opposed  to  him.  The  command  of  the  Spanish 
army  had  been  given  to  Don  John  of  Austria,  in.  whom 
some  natural  ability  had  been  destroyed  by  the  training 
he  had  received  as  a  son  of  the  king  of  Spain.  He 
observed  the  same  formalities  in  the  field  and  yielded  to 
the  same  slothf  ulness,  as  when  he  was  holding  his  Court  at 
^^russels.  His  domestics  dared  not  rouse  him,  even  when 
something  in  the  enemy's  movements  required  immediate 
attention.  As  soon  as  camp  had  been  reached  he  went 
at  once  to  bed,  took  his  supper  there,  and  paid  no  atten- 

302 


PEACE  OF  THE  PYRENEES.  303 

lion  to  the  army  until  the  next  morning.  The  officers 
could  with  difficulty  have  access  to  him,  yet  they  were 
allowed  to  do  nothing  without  positive  orders.' 

But  capturing  towns  in  the  interior  was  not  the  pro- 
gramme that  had  been  agreed  on  with  Cromwell,  and  the 
Protector  soon  began  vigorous  complaints.  The  English 
soldiers  grumbled  at  their  rations,  and  specimens  of  the 
bread  they  received  were  sent  to  England,  to  show  the 
difference  between  it  and  the  good  bread  to  which  they 
were  accustomed  in  their  own  country."  There  were  the 
ordinary  irregularities  in  the  payment  of  the  troops,  and 
the  English  became  so  impatient  that  Turenne  had  his  sil- 
ver plate  of  the  value  of  thirty  thousand  livres  cut  up,  and 
used  it  for  their  payment.'  But  the  chief  grievance  was 
that  neither  Mardyke  nor  Dunkirk  were  attacked,  but  the 
English  recruits  were  used  for  the  capture  of  places  which 
were  for  the  advantage  of  France  alone.  Mazarin  was, 
perhaps,  not  eager  to  carry  out  his  part  of  the  agreement, 
or  to  devote  his  energies  to  capturing  the  important  city  of 
Dunkirk  in  order  to  put  it  in  the  possession  of  England. 
The  young  king  was  taken  down  to  review  the  Ironsides 
whom  Cromwell  had  sent  over,  and  the  cardinal  despatched 
flattering  letters  to  the  Protector,  and  still  the  sieges  were 
not  begun  as  had  been  agreed.  But  Mazarin  had  to  deal 
with  an  ally  who  was  not  to  be  paid  with  compliments. 
However  obscure  the  phraseology  in  which  Cromwell 
often  saw  fit  to  veil  his  thoughts,  he  found  no  difficulty, 
when  he  desired,  in  expressing  them  with  the  utmost 
clearness.  He  wrote  on  August  31st  that  he  was  amazed 
to  find  the  French  were  not  sincere  in  the  treaty  they  had 
made.  To  suggest  giving  England  some  place  in  the  in- 
terior, or  to  say  what  they  would  do  in  the  next  campaign, 
was  talk  for  children.  If  they  wanted  to  give  possession 
of  some  place  until  Dunkirk  was  captured,  they  could 
give  him  Calais  or  Boulogne,  or  they  could  indemnify  him 
for  the  expense  he  had  been  at,  and  he  would  take  his 

'  M^m.  de  York,  598-600.  *  Bordeaux  4  Brienne,  Aug.  25,  1657. 

*  Voyage  4  Paris,  252. 


304      FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

troops  and  employ  them  where  they  would  be  of  more 
use  for  England. 

Mazarin  was  sagacious  enough  to  see  that  there  could 
be  no  more  trifling.  Dunkirk  and  Gravelines  had  been  so 
fortified  that  Turenne  thought  it  was  impracticable  to  at- 
tack them  this  year,  but  in  September  he  laid  siege  to 
Mardyke.  With  the  aid  of  the  fleet  the  city  was  cap- 
tured without  much  difficulty,  and  it  was  turned  over  to 
the  English  in  conformity  with  the  terms  of  the  treaty.' 
Fresh  complaints  were  raised  in  France  when  this  place 
was  actually  put  in  the  possession  of  a  rival  and  heretical 
nation,  but  Mazarin  said  those  who  talked  thus  were 
fools,  knaves,  and  bigots." 

The  treaty  with  England  had  been  made  only  for  a  year, 
and  neither  Dunkirk  nor  Gravelines  had  been  captured. 
But  the  allies  were  again  on  amicable  terms,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1658  it  was  renewed  for  another  year  on  substan- 
tially the  same  terms.  It  was  provided  that  Dunkirk  should 
be  attacked  at  once,  and  though  the  weather  was  bad  and 
much  of  the  country  flooded,  in  May  Turenne  began  the 
siege  of  the  place.  The  great  strength  of  the  position 
and  the  nature  of  the  surroundings  made  its  capture  a  diflfi- 
cult  task.  Bridges  had  to  be  built  to  allow  the  different 
parts  of  the  army  to  communicate,  and  stockades  in  order 
to  ward  off  to  some  extent  the  attacks  of  the  sea.  To- 
wards the  dunes  or  shifting  hills  and  stretches  of  sand,  no 
entrenchments  could  be  made  that  would  be  sufficient  to 
repel  an  attempt  to  break  the  lines. 

But  the  Spanish  had  left  only  eighteen  hundred  men  for 
the  garrison  of  the  place,  and  they  abandoned  the  defence 
of  the  only  dyke  which  could  be  traversed  through  the  ex- 
panse of  waters  that  surrounded  the  city.  Turenne  was 
thus  enabled  to  reach  Dunkirk,  and  there  he  proceeded  with 
his  entrenchments  as  well  as  the  nature  of  the  country  per- 
mitted.    The  Spanish  army  under  Don  John  approached 

'  The  campaign  of  1657  is  described  in  Mem.  de  Turenne,  482-g  ;  York, 
595-601.  Lettres  de  Turenne  i  Le  Tellier  and  Mazarin.  Dis  Ven,  cxx., 
104,  118,  et pas.  *  Mazarin  k  Lionne,  Jan.  ri,  1658. 


PEACE    OF  THE  PYRENEES.  305 

in  order  to  make  some  endeavor  to  save  the  place,  but 
it  was  commanded  with  more  than  the  usual  carelessness 
and  inattention.  Don  John  decided  to  march  over  the 
dunes  and  encamp  close  to  the  French  army.  The  artil- 
lery had  not  arrived,  there  were  no  implements  to  raise 
entrenchments,  and  there  was  an  insufficient  supply  of 
powder.  He  was  told  that  Turenne  would  attack  him, 
but  with  the  usual  Spanish  complacency  he  replied  that 
that  was  precisely  what  he  desired. 

Turenne  at  once  decided  on  that  course,  which  was  also 
strongly  advocated  by  Mazarin.'  The  marshal  gave  his 
orders  to  his  associates,  and  he  told  Lockhart,  who  com- 
manded the  six  thousand  English,  that  he  would  explain 
his  reasons  for  the  step  he  had  decided  upon.  Lockhart 
told  him  that  orders  were  sufficient ;  he  could  give  his 
reasons  when  the  battle  was  over.  At  four  on  the  morn- 
ing of  June  14th  the  army  marched  from  its  entrench- 
ments against  the  Spanish  forces.  Don  John  had  done 
nothing  to  prepare  for  a  serious  battle,  and  four  thousand 
of  his  cavalry  were  off  foraging.  Cond^  asked  the  Duke 
of  Gloucester  if  he  had  ever  seen  a  battle  fought,  and  the 
duke  replied  that  he  had  not.  "  In  half  an  hour,"  said 
the  prince,  "  you  will  see  how  we  shall  lose  one."  The 
Spanish  troops  had  an  advantage  in  their  position  upon 
the  hills,  the  ascent  of  which  over  the  loose  sand  was  diffi- 
cult for  the  enemy.  The  battle  was  fought  on  the  very 
edge  of  the  ocean,  and  the  English  ships  were  able  to 
throw  a  few  balls  into  the  Spanish  army.  The  attack  was 
led  with  much  fury.  Lockhart  commanded  the  English 
regiments  at  the  left,  next  to  the  ocean,  and  his  soldiers 
distinguished  themselves  by  their  valor."  Among  those 
opposed  to  them  were  the  English  and  Irish  regiments  of 
Charles  II.,  who  was  now  an  ally  of  Spain.  Lockhart 's 
soldiers,  after  a  sharp  encounter,  put  their  adversaries  to 
flight.  At  the  other  wing  Cond6  sustained  a  battle  lost 
in  advance,  with  the  utmost  courage  and  skill.     But  he 

'  Mazarin  4  Talon,  June  14,  15,  1658.     Aflf.  Etr.,  Pays  Bas.,  45. 
*  They  were  led  in  their  charge  on  theclunes  by  General  Morgan. 


3o6         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

was  unable  to  check  the  advance  of  the  French  forces ; 
the  Spanish  broke  in  confusion,  and  Turenne's  victory  was 
complete.  Don  John  lost  about  a  thousand  killed  and 
wounded  and  four  thousand  prisoners.' 

The  result  of  the  battle  of  the  Dunes  showed  how 
much  greater  was  the  value  of  a  victory  in  the  field,  than 
the  capture  of  two  or  three  towns  by  siege,  which  was 
generally  the  employment  of  a  campaign.  The  rescue  of 
Dunkirk  was  now  hopeless.  Its  valiant  commander,  the 
Marquis  of  Leyde,  was  killed,  and  on  June  25th  the  city 
surrendered.  It  was  put  in  the  possession  of  the  English, 
and  they  continued  to  hold  it  until  it  was  sold  to  the 
French  by  Charles  II.,  shortly  after  his  restoration.  The 
return  of  the  Stuarts  saved  France  from  the  danger  of 
leaving  a  place  almost  as  important  as  Calais  in  the  pos- 
session of  England,  and  the  advantages  which  Cromwell 
had  exacted  were  frittered  away  by  Charles. 

Turenne  continued  a  campaign  of  unbroken  success. 
The  Spanish  could  do  nothing  but  strengthen  the  gar- 
risons of  some  places,  and  pray  for  the  winter  to  come  and 
compel  the  French  army  to  retire.  Turenne  laid  siege  to 
the  important  city  of  Gravelines,  and  the  English  fleet 
assisted  him.  The  city  surrendered  on  August  27th,  and 
this  conquest  the  French  kept  for  themselves.  Some 
troops  of  the  Prince  of  Ligne  were  attacked  near  Menin 
and  cut  to  pieces.  Turenne  captured  Oudenarde,  Menin, 
and  Ypres ;  he  was  within  a  few  hours'  march  of  Brussels, 
and  he  believed  that  he  could  capture  the  city,  but 
decided  that  it  would  be  more  prudent  not  to  make  the 
attempt."  The  marshal  continued  the  campaign  until  late 
in  the  winter,  and  it  was  more  disastrous  for  the  Spanish 
in  the  Low  Countries  than  any  other  of  a  war  that  had 
lasted  twenty-four  years.' 

'  For  the  battle  of  the  Dunes  see  Turenne,  494,  495.  York,  604-609. 
Bussy  Rabutin.  ii.,  52-67.  Coligny  Saligny,  57  et  seq.  Dis.  Ven.,  cxxi., 
78  et  seq.  'Turenne  i  Mazarin,  Sept.  13th. 

*The  campaign  of  1658  is  described  in  Mem.  de  Turenne,  489-508.  York 
600-612.  Bussy  Rabutin,  ii.,  52,  ^/j^y.  Letters  of  Turenne  and  Talon  to 
Le  Tellier  and  Mazarin,  1658. 


PEACE   OF  THE  PYRENEES.  307 

This  year  witnessed  another  of  the  treasons  which  were 
so  frequent  among  officers  in  charge  of  important  positions. 
The  commanders  at  Hesdin,  a  strong  place  in  Artois,  in- 
duced the  garrison  to  revolt,  allied  themselves  with  Spain 
and  held  the  place  against  the  French  king.  Efforts  were 
made  to  agree  on  terms  with  them,  but  without  success. 
Mazarin  followed  Richelieu's  precepts  in  many  things,  but 
not  in  all ;  unlike  his  predecessor  he  always  bought  traitors, 
instead  of  beheading  them.  Richelieu  during  these  years 
would  have  sent  a  few  colonels  and  marquises,  and  possibly 
even  a  marshal  or  a  duke,  to  the  block,  and  the  governors 
of  provinces  and  fortresses  would  have  ceased  to  meditate 
on  betraying  them  to  Spain. 

The  Marshal  of  Hocquincourt,  who  had  recently  ex- 
torted an  enormous  sum  of  money  lest  he  should  betray 
Ham  and  Peronne  to  Spain,  now  endeavored  to  stir  up 
insurrection  in  Normandy,  and  failing  in  this  he  sought  to 
be  received  as  governor  in  Hesdin.  This  also  was  refused, 
and  he  thereupon  joined  the  Spanish  army.  His  career  of 
treason  was  soon  ended,  and  he  was  killed  in  a  skirmish 
just  before  the  battle  of  the  Dunes.' 

The  more  important  events  of  these  years  did  not  pre- 
vent some  interest  in  the  conduct  of  a  woman,  whose  posi- 
tion and  eccentricities  have  gained  for  her  a  certain  fame. 
Gustavus  Adolphus  had  no  son,  and  his  crown  was  inherited 
by  his  daughter  Christine,  who  was  but  six  at  his  death. 
The  government  of  Sweden  was  administered  by  a  coun- 
cil, controlled  by  Chancellor  Oxenstiern,  and  it  was  not 
until  1644,  when  the  young  Christine  had  reached  eighteen, 
that  she  herself  began  to  rule.  She  was  governed  at  first 
by  judicious  counsellors,  and  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  ad- 
ded both  to  the  reputation  and  the  territory  of  Sweden. 
The  queen  herself  introduced  some  judicious  reforms  in 
the  kingdom,  and  in  her  zeal  for  letters,  she  organized 

'For  the  conduct  of  these  predecessors  of  Benedict  Arnold,  see  Bussy 
Rabutin.  ii.,  54.  Dis.  Ven.,  cxxi.,  18,  30,  44,  et pas.  The  ambassador  says, 
the  policy  of  sweetness  which  was  always  adopted  was  prejudicial  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  crown,  and  that  Hocquincourt 's  death  was  "  meritato  castigo 
alia  di  lui  fellonia."     See  also  Mem.  de  York,  603,  604. 


308        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

literary  institutions  and  collected  libraries  and  objects  of 
art.  Men  of  learning  were  invited  to  her  Court,  much 
after  the  fashion  which  was  adopted  later  by  Frederick 
the  Second.  The  most  illustrious  of  these  visitors  was 
Descartes,  with  whom  she  wished  to  study  philosophy 
every  morning  at  five  o'clock.  She  is  said  to  have  desired 
also  that  he  should  dance  in  some  royal  ballet.  The 
philosopher  declined  the  ballet,  and  found  the  attainments 
of  his  pupil  somewhat  superficial.  The  eccentricities  and 
the  vices  of  her  character  rapidly  developed,  and  her  sub- 
jects began  to  weary  of  the  daughter  of  their  great  king. 
She  was  in  many  things  masculine.  Her  body  was  hardy 
and  powerful  and  she  had  early  habituated  it  to  hunting, 
riding,  and  violent  exercise.  Her  voice  was  harsh  and 
deep,  she  chose  men  exclusively  for  her  companions, 
and  assumed  to  despise  those  of  her  own  sex.  Her  dress 
was  more  like  that  of  a  mdn  than  a  woman,  though  it  bore 
little  resemblance  to  the  costume  of  either  sex.  Her  sub- 
jects desired  her  to  marry,  but  she  announced  that  she 
could  not  reconcile  herself  to  the  idea  of  matrimony.  She 
selected  her  cousin,  Charles  Gustavus,  for  her  successor, 
and  to  discourage  princes  who  sued  for  her  hand,  she 
formally  assumed  the  title  of  king. 

But  this  aversion  to  matrimony  unfortunately  did  not 
prevent  her  having  very  questionable  relations  with  some 
of  her  favorites,  and  leading  a  life  which  was  distasteful  to 
the  strict  views  and  rigid  morality  of  her  subjects.  The 
ministers  whom  she  chose  wasted  the  public  funds  and  ex- 
cited general  discontent.  The  nation  was  wearj'  of  her 
rule  and  she  was  weary  of  ruling,  and  in  1654  she  ab- 
dicated the  throne,  and  Charles  Gustavus  became  king  of 
Sweden. 

She  then  began  her  career  as  a  wanderer  over  Europe. 
She  was  attended  by  a  little  Court,  composed  mostly  of 
foreigners  of  very  low  character.  But  she  had  a  reputation 
for  profound  and  universal  learning,  and  the  fame  of  this 
increased  the  curiosity  which  her  career  and  her  abdication 
excited    in    Europe.      She    had    read  many  books,    was 


PEACE   OF  THE   PYRENEES.  309 

familiar  with  several  languages,  had  a  tenacious  memory, 
and  possessed  a  considerable  amount  of  miscellaneous  in- 
formation, which  was  perhaps  extraordinary  in  a  monarch, 
but  would  have  been  very  superficial  in  a  subject.  Imme- 
diately after  abandoning  her  crown  she  also  abandoned  her 
religion,  and  professed  her  belief  in  the  Catholic  church. 
She  went  to  Rome.  Alexander  VII.  attached  a  very  un- 
due importance  to  this  triumph  of  the  faith,  and  she  was 
solemnly  baptized  by  him  with  the  name  of  Alexandra  in 
honor  of  her  favorite  hero,  Alexander  the  Great.  Leaving 
Rome,  in  the  autumn  of  1656  she  visited  France.  By  an 
appropriate  choice,  the  Duke  of  Guise,  whose  character 
was  as  bizarre  as  her  own,  was  sent  to  receive  her  when  she 
entered  the  kingdom.  At  the  Court  she  was  treated  as  a 
sovereign,  and  the  peculiarities  of  her  conduct  excited  the 
liveliest  wonder.  She  wore  a  head-dress  which  was  like  the 
peruke  of  a  man  in  front  and  the  coiffure  of  a  woman  in 
the  rear.  At  times,  she  carried  a  sword  by  her  side.  Her 
face  was  always  extremely  powdered,  and  her  hands  were 
usually  extremely  dirty. 

The  courtiers  crowded  about  this  curious  personage,  and 
vast  throngs  endeavored  to  catch  sight  of  her  when  she 
rode  about  the  city.  She  attended  the  Italian  comedy 
and  pronounced  it  very  bad,  but  at  the  French  comedy 
she  showed  the  emotions  of  the  ideal  theatre-goer.  When 
they  recited  their  jokes,  her  laughter  filled  the  house, 
while  at  the  scenes  of  pathos  and  sorrow  she  sobbed  and 
wept  aloud.  She  sang  to  herself  in  company,  she  seated 
herself  on  one  chair  and  put  her  feet  over  another  in  the 
presence  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  she  danced  at  a  ball  in  a 
manner  which  was  the  most  curious  and  amusing  of  all  her 
performances.  Such  conduct  might  have  been  forgiven  in  a 
queen,  but  she  added  the  more  serious  vice  of  meddling. 
She  advised  the  king  about  his  marriage  and  the  cardinal 
about  making  peace  with  Spain,  and  her  royal  entertainers 
were  much  relieved  when  she  returned  to  Italy. 

In  1657  she  visited  France  again,  but  she  was  ordered  to 
remain  at  Fontainebleau.      She  occupied  the  royal  palace 


3IO      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND   MAZARIN. 

there,  and  she  stained  it  by  a  crime  which  showed  that  the 
frivolity  of  her  character  was  accompanied  by  equal 
ferocity.  Her  little  court  consisted  almost  entirely  of 
men,  and  their  tawdry  dress  and  tarnished  reputations  cor- 
responded to  the  character  of  their  sovereign.  Among 
them  was  a  so-called  Count  of  Monaldeschi  and  one  Santi- 
nelli,  who  were  rivals  for  the  affection  of  Christine.  Santi- 
nelli  was  now  the  favorite,  and  to  destroy  him  his  rival 
devised  some  letters  which  were  sent  the  queen,  coming 
nominally  from  outside  parties,  and  showing  that  Santi- 
nelli  had  revealed  matters  concerning  her  of  the  most 
private  and  secret  character.  But  Santinelli  cleared  him- 
self, and  the  letters  were  traced  to  Monaldeschi.  He  was 
called  before  Christine  and  compelled  to  confess  what  he 
had  done.  This  wandering  ex-sovereign  professed  to 
treat  his  acts  as  high  treason  against  her  Majesty,  and  she 
ordered  that  the  offender  should  prepare  for  death  within 
an  hour.  He  begged  to  have  at  least  the  night  in  which 
to  make  his  peace  with  his  God,  but  this  was  refused.  The 
wretched  man  seems  to  have  been  unable  to  make  any 
defence.  Santinelli  and  some  of  his  followers  attacked 
him  with  their  swords.  He  asked  to  have  a  confessor. 
One  was  brought  from  the  palace,  and  they  waited  until 
he  had  received  the  confession  of  the  unfortunate  man. 
The  confessor  saw  the  queen  and  begged  her  to  stop  the 
murder,  but  without  effect.  As  soon  as  the  sacrament  was 
administered,  the  murderers  at  once  resumed  their  work, 
and  butchered  Monaldeschi  in  the  gallery  des  cerfs.  His 
remains  were  immediately  buried. 

Such  a  brutal  murder,  performed  in  a  royal  palace,  under 
the  pretence  of  the  authority  over  her  court,  that  was 
claimed  by  this  wandering  madwoman,  filled  the  king  and 
the  community  with  horror.  But  much  was  then  forgiven 
to  royal  blood.  Louis  XIV.  visited  Christine  again,  and 
she  claimed  to  have  had  sufficient  cause  for  ordering  the 
punishment  which  had  been  inflicted.  The  next  year  she 
was  so  persistent  in  her  desire,  that  she  was  at  last  al- 
lowed to  join  the  Court.      Her  reputation  as  a  murderess 

( 


PEACE  OF  THE  PYRENEES.  311 

did  not  make  her  so  unwelcome,  as  her  character  as  a  bore. 
She  entered  the  rooms  of  the  king  or  the  cardinal,  and 
kept  them  up  most  of  the  night  by  her  talking,  until  Maz- 
arin  claimed  to  have  the  gout  in  order  to  be  rid  of  her. 
She  attended  a  session  of  the  members  of  the  French 
Academy,  but  she  viewed  them  with  the  ill-will  of  a  rival 
savant.  She  pronounced  them  men  having  only  the 
appearance  of  learning,  with  none  of  the  real  meat  of  wis- 
dom. In  March,  1658,  she  left  France  to  the  relief  both 
of  the  Court  and  the  literati,  and  she  did  not  again 
return.' 

Amid  the  successes  which  France  enjoyed,  Mazarin  had 
for  some  time  feared  that  the  Emperor  would  be  persuaded 
to  lend  aid  to  the  Spanish.  By  the  treaty  of  Westphalia 
he  had  agreed  to  take  no  further  part  in  the  struggle,  but 
close  relationship,  similar  views,  and  long  political  associa- 
tions between  Spain  and  Austria,  operated  against  a  strict 
compliance  with  this  provision.  In  1656  the  imperial 
troops  were  in  Italy,  engaged  against  the  Duke  of  Modena, 
and  the  French  ministers  declared  that  the  Emperor  had 
already  repeatedly  violated  the  terms  of  the  Peace  of 
Westphalia.'  Amidst  her  adversities,  Spain  hoped  that 
Ferdinand  III.  would  come  to  the  rescue  of  a  branch  of 
the  House  of  Austria.  The  political  position  was  still 
more  complicated  by  the  wars  excited  by  the  ambition  of 
Charles  Gustavus,  between  Sweden,  Denmark,  Poland^ 
and  other  northern  powers,  which  might  involve  all 
Germany. 

But  in  April,  1657,  Ferdinand  III.  died  and  left  the 
succession  to  the  Empire  open.  The  rulers  of  Austria  had 
usually  guarded  against  any  danger  of  change  in  the  im- 
perial succession,  by  having  their  eldest  son  elected  king 
of  the  Romans.  Upon  the  death  of  the  Emperor  the  king 
of  the  Romans  had  an  indisputable  title  to  succeed  to  his 

'  Full  accounts  of  the  career  of  this  eccentric  woman  in  France  are  found 
in  Journal  d'un  Voyage  4  Paris,  321-339,  428,  438,  etpas.  Mem.  de  Mot- 
teville,  448-453.     Dis.  Ven.,  cxvii..  161,  162.  et pas. 

*  Dis.  Ven.,  cxix.,  131  et  pas.,  giving  conversations  with  Servian. 


312       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

office.  The  eldest  son  of  Ferdinand  III.  had  been  thus 
chosen,  but  he  died  before  his  father,  and  before  the  Em- 
peror could  obtain  the  election  of  his  second  son  he  him- 
self died.  His  heir  was  a  boy  of  only  seventeen,  and 
there  seemed  to  be  an  unusually  favorable  opportunity  for 
wresting  the  Empire  from  the  House  of  Austria.  Mazarin 
resolved  to  make  the  effort.  Now,  he  wrote,  was  the 
opportunity  for  the  electors  to  show  Europe  that  the  im- 
perial dignity  was  not  the  patrimony  of  one  family,  which 
the  council  of  Spain  could  control  at  its  will.' 

The  cardinal  was  somewhat  embarrassed  in  finding  a 
candidate  to  bring  forward  against  the  young  Leopold  of 
Austria.  If  it  had  been  possible,  he  would  have  preferred 
to  obtain  the  dignity  for  Louis  XIV.  He  wrote  Servien  in 
1654  that  he  did  not  see  why  Louis  XIV.  could  not  think 
of  this  dignity  for  himself,  and  a  million  well  employed 
might  give  a  great  impulse  to  the  affair.'  If  there  was 
any  prospect  for  the  election  of  the  king,  he  wrote  during 
the  congress,  the  purse  of  France  would  be  freely 
opened.'  Pamphlets  were  issued,  showing  the  wisdom 
of  choosing  Louis  XIV.  for  this  office,  and  they  were 
circulated  at  the  congress  of  electors,  to  see  if  the  current 
could  not  be  turned  that  way.  But  there  was  never  any 
thought  in  the  electoral  college  of  the  king  of  France  as  a 
serious  candidate,  and  Mazarin,  recognizing  this,  gave  but 
little  attention  to  the  matter.* 

It  was  hoped,  however,  that  it  might  be  possible  to  ob- 
tain the  election  of  the  Duke  of  Neuburg,  or  of  the 
Elector  of  Bavaria,  and  Lionne  and  the  Duke  of  Gramont 
were  sent  as  the  representatives  of  France  to  the  congress, 
to  obtain  the  choice  of  one  of  these,  or  if  that  endeavor 

*  Aff.  Etr,  All.,  136.  Instructions,  etc.,  July.  1657.  Many  of  the  letters 
on  this  subject  have  been  published  by  M.  Valfrey,  Ambassades  de  Hugues 
de  Lionne.  '  Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  893.,  172. 

•Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  272.,  132.  See  also  Memoir,  July  29,  1657,  Aff.  Etr. 
All.,  140.  In  this,  Mazarin  says  Louis  would  prefer  that  Bavaria  or  Neu- 
burg should  be  chosen,  and  his  name  would  be  brought  forward  only  on  the 
advice  of  his  friends. 

*  The  candidacy  of  Louis  XIV.  is  rarely  spoken  of  in  Mazarin's  letters 
and  instructions  to  his  representatives. 


PEACE    OF  THE   PYRENEES.  313 

failed,  to  tie  the  hands  of  the  new  emperor  so  he  could 
give  no  aid  to  Spain. 

Over  a  year  passed  before  an  election  was  reached,  and 
there  was  ample  opportunity  for  intrigue.  Mazarin  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  a  large  influence  among  the  scattered 
and  divided  princes  of  Germany  by  the  liberal  use  of  money. 
Louis  XIV.  afterwards  preserved  it  by  the  same  means. 
The  cardinal  wrote  that  to  aid  in  the  success  of  their  plans, 
he  would  raise  money  if  it  left  him  with  only  a  shirt  on 
his  back,  but  the  ambassadors  must  be  sure  that  its  use 
would  produce  some  effect.'  The  character  of  the  electors, 
as  it  is  described  by  the  French  ambasssadors,  was  not  such 
as  to  excite  any  hesitation  in  approaching  them  with  prac- 
tical arguments. 

Over  the  Prince  Palatine  they  believed  that  they  pos- 
sessed a  firm  hold.  A  treaty  had  been  made  with  him 
in  1656,  by  which  he  agreed  to  favor  the  designs  of  the 
French  king  in  Germany  for  50,000  crowns  down,  and 
40,000  crowns  a  year."  But  an  additional  bargain  was 
now  made.  The  elector  got  60,000  crowns  or  360,000 
francs  down,  and  was  to  have  240,000  francs  more.  As 
the  word  even  of  princes  could  not  always  be  taken  in 
such  matters,  he  was  obliged  to  sign  a  paper,  agreeing  to 
take  any  action  in  the  congress  required  by  France,  and 
part  of  the  money  was  put  in  the  hands  of  a  third  party.* 

The  Palatine  had  been  in  exile  during  many  years,  and 
he  had  become  a  judicious  prince.  In  the  lower  Palatine, 
which  twelve  years  before  the  Marshal  of  Gramont  had 
found  only  a  desert,  the  villages  had  been  rebuilt ;  Heidel- 
berg was  again  a  populous  place  ;  the  fields  were  culti- 
vated, and  the  hideous  traces  of  the  war  had  been  entirely 
effaced. 

Many  of  the  Palatine's  associates  were  equally  willing  to 
take  French  money,  but  they  received  money  from  Austria 

'  Aff.  Etr.  AH.,  140.     Mazarin  &  Gramont,  July  20,  1657. 
'  Dumont.  Corps.  Dip.  vi.,  2d  part,  143. 

*  Aff.  Etr.  All.,  136.  Gramont  a  Mazarin,  Aug.  19,  1657.  M^m.  da 
Oramont,  289. 


314      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

also,  and  their  sympathies  were  stronger  with  the  ancient 
family  of  the  emperors,  than  with  the  Court  of  France. 
France  had  done  much  for  the  electorate  of  Treves.  The 
Archbishop  and  Elector  of  Treves  was  for  sale,  but  Gramont 
did  not  succeed  in  buying  him,  for  the  reason,  as  he  says, 
that  he  was  unable  to  keep  him  company  in  his  tremen- 
dous drinking  bouts.'  Treves  received  satisfactory  terms 
from  Austria  and  espoused  her  interests. 

Saxony  was  wholly  in  the  interests  of  Austria.  The 
present  elector  resembled  his  father  in  his  great  consump- 
tion of  liquor.  He  combined  with  this  much  zeal  for  the 
Lutheran  faith ;  to  call  a  man  a  Calvinist  was  his  bitterest 
term  of  reproach,  and  his  piety  was  such  that  on  the  days 
when  he  received  the  communion  he  never  got  drunk  in 
the  morning.'  But  the  French  succeeded  in  obtaining 
the  favor  of  the  electors  of  Mayence  and  Cologne.  The 
Archbishop  of  Mayence  was  the  leading  spirit  in  the  col- 
lege and  a  man  of  large  ability.  He  lived  well,  but  with- 
out excess.  His  dinners  began  at  noon,  but  were  always 
ended  by  six.  He  never  exceeded  his  six  pints  of  wine  at 
a  meal,  and  he  had  strength  given  him  to  take  that  amount 
without  affecting  the  gravity  and  decorum  befitting  an 
archbishop.* 

It  was  soon  found  that  the  endeavor  to  exclude  Leo- 
pold from  the  Empire  would  be  a  hopeless  one.  The 
Elector  of  Bavaria  was  a  young  man  of  little  ability  and 
less  ambition,  and  he  was  controlled  by  Austrian  influ- 
ences. Neither  by  the  exhortations  of  his  wife  nor  of 
the  French  ambassadors  could  he  be  brought  to  announce 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  Empire,  or  to  agree  to  ac- 
cept the  imperial  dignity.*  There  was  still  less  chance 
for  Neuburg,  and  even  the  electors  who  were  friendly  to 
France  were  unwilling  to  go  so  far  as  to  exclude  the 
House  of  Austria  from  the  Empire. 

But  though  Mazarin  found  that  he  could  not  prevent 
Leopold's  election,   he   resolved,   if   possible,  to   tie   his- 

*  Gramont,  292.  '  Gramont,  293.  *  Gramont,  311. 

*  Relation  de  Gramont,  Aff,  Etr.  AH.,  142. 


PEACE  OF  THE  PYRENEES. 


h 


hands.  The  treaty  of  Westphalia  had  helped  to  cripple 
the  Empire,  by  recognizing  the  right  of  its  princes  and 
electors  to  make  separate  alliances.  It  was  now  asked 
that  a  declaration  should  be  required  of  Leopold  before 
his  election,  that  he  would  give  no  assistance  to  the  ene- 
mies of  France.  Spain,  Austria,  and  the  Pope  protested 
against  a  measure  which  they  declared  extraordinary  and 
contrary  to  the  privileges  of  the  Empire  and  the  provi- 
sions of  the  Golden  Bull,  but  the  French  succeeded  in 
obtaining  the  majority  of  the  college  to  vote  in  favor  of 
it.  The  money  which  they  had  freely  used  did  much 
to  accomplish  such  a  result.  From  May  to  July,  1657, 
the  Archbishop  of  Mayence  alone  received  200,000  livres.' 
A  profuse  magnificence  in  entertainments  and  banqueting 
went  side  by  side  with  more  serious  arguments.  The 
dinners  began  at  noon  and  lasted  till  nine  at  night.  At 
one  of  them  everybody  was  so  drunk  that  the  electors 
danced  on  the  table,  and,  though  the  Marshal  of  Gramont 
was  lame,  he  led  in  the  dance  for  the  honor  of  France.* 

Other  things  besides  bribery  and  debauchery  operated 
against  the  purposes  of  Spain.  Her  minister  at  Frankfort 
was  injudicious  in  his  conduct,  and  succeeded  in  making 
the  electors  believe  that  Spain  had  no  desire  for  peace. 
Germany  had  suffered  so  much  from  the  Thirty  Years* 
War,  that  most  of  her  princes  desired  above  all  things  a 
continuation  of  tranquillity,  and  they  feared  lest  Germany 
should  become  involved  again  in  war  in  the  interests  of 
the  Spanish.  "  The  relations  of  Austria  with  Spain  were 
known,"  wrote  the  Venetian  ambassador  at  Vienna.  "  No 
nation  was  more  disliked  in  Germany  than  the  Spanish. 
The  majority  even  of  the  subjects  of  Austria  desired  that 
the  interests  of  the  two  countries  should  be  divided,  and 
they  feared  lest  from  the  present  wars  they  should  again 
be  involved  in  such  calamities  as  they  had  suffered."  ' 

Mayence,  Cologne,  and  the  Palatine  were  friendly  to 
France,  and  Brandenburg  at  last  agreed  to  vote  for  the 

'  Comptes  de  Gravel,  Aff.  Etr.  AH.,  144. 
•  Mem.  de  Gramont,  294,  298,  306.     *  Relazione  di  Nani,  cited  by  Valfrey. 


3l6       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

declaration  that  was  demanded.'  Though  Leopold  was 
Elector  of  Bohemia,  his  representatives  were  not  allowed 
to  vote  on  this  question,  and  the  French  thus  had  four 
out  of  seven.  But  on  May  I2th  the  Palatine  demanded 
some  additional  advantages.  It  had  been  intended  to 
have  the  vote  on  the  13th,  and  the  French  ambassadors 
were  obliged  to  grant  what  he  asked.  All,  then,  seemed 
sure  for  the  13th,  but  the  Palatine  had  also  been  bought 
by  the  Swedes,  and  when  he  announced  his  conclusion, 
he  insisted  that  Leopold  should  also  be  required  to  take 
no  part  with  Poland  in  her  war  against  Sweden.  This 
condition  repelled  Brandenburg,  and  the  session  closed 
amid  triumph  for  the  Spanish  and  dismay  for  the  French. 
But  the  refractory  Palatine  was  properly  handled,  and  on 
May  15th  a  majority  of  the  electoral  college  required 
Leopold  to  declare  that  he  would  invest  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  with  Montferrat,  would  observe  inviolably  all  the 
conditions  of  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  and  would  give  no 
aid  to  the  enemies  of  France  or  of  her  allies,  nor  to  the 
enemies  of  the  princes  and  electors  of  the  Empire."  On 
July  18,  1658,  the  king  of  Bohemia  subscribed  to  the 
articles,  and  on  the  same  day  he  was  elected  Emperor  as 
Leopold  the  First. 

But  Mazarin  desired  to  add  to  the  effect  of  this  solemn 
agreement,  a  league  of  German  princes  which  should  be 
charged  with  preventing  its  violation.  The  cardinal  in- 
sisted that  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics  should  be 
received  as  members,  and  that  it  was  indispensable  that 
Sweden  should  join  in  it.^  The  wars  in  which  Sweden  was 
then  engaged,  and  in  which  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg 
was  also  involved,  rendered  the  formation  of  this  coalition 
a  difificult  one,  but  on  August  14,  1658,  the  League  of  the 
Rhine  was  created.  The  Archbishops  of  Mayence,  Treves, 
and  Cologne,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel,  the  King  of 

«  Aff.  Etr.  All.,  t,  143- 

'  Les  ambassadeurs  4  Mazarin,  May  14  and  18,  1658.     The  articles  are 
found  in  Dumont,  Corps  Dip.,  2d  part,  226-234. 
'  Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  272.     Despatch  of  Sept.  15,  1657. 


PEACE   OF  THE  PYRENEES.  317 

Sweden,  so  far  as  he  was  a  German  prince,  and  various 
other  of  the  states  of  Germany,  together  with  the  King  of 
France,  joined  in  this  alliance,  by  which  they  agreed  to 
protect  each  other  in  the  rights  and  the  territories  secured 
to  their  members  by  the  Peace  of  Westphalia.  The 
League  of  the  Rhine  continued  in  existence  for  many 
years,  and  its  influence  in  Germany  was  considerable. 
The  position  which  France  held  in  it  was  of  great  value 
to  Louis  XIV.  in  the  early  part  of  his  career.  Many  of 
the  German  princes,  as  well  as  the  English  kings,  were  his 
pensionaries,  and  in  large  portions  of  Germany,  France  long 
continued  to  exert  an  influence  greater  than  that  of  Aus- 
tria. The  action  of  the  electors  in  1658,  and  the  League 
of  the  Rhine,  mark  the  decadence  of  the  control  which 
Spain  had  formerly  exercised  in  the  Empire.' 

The  result  of  these  intrigues  in  Germany  made  it  more 
diflficult  for  Spain  to  obtain  aid  from  Austria,  and  after  the 
campaign  of  1658  it  did  not  seem  improbable  that  Tu- 
renne  in  the  next  year  might  conquer  the  whole  of  the 
Spanish  Netherlands.  The  steps  which  were  taken  by  the 
French  Court  in  the  autumn  of  1658,  indicated  that  the 
marriage  which  had  long  been  suggested  as  a  possible 
means  of  bringing  the  countries  to  unite  on  terms,  might 
soon  be  impracticable.  In  October,  1658,  Louis  and  the 
Court  proceeded  to  Lyons.  He  arrived  there  in  Novem- 
ber, and  the  most  sumptuous  fetes  and  gayeties  engaged 
the  attention  of  the  courtiers.  But  it  was  no  secret  that 
the  journey  had  been  undertaken  with  more  serious  pur- 
poses. Louis  XIV.  was  now  twenty,  and  it  was  thought 
that  he  should  be  married.  Savoy  was  an  uncertain  ally, 
and  a  marriage  between  the  king  and  Margaret  of  Sa- 
voy had  been  suggested  as  one  that  would  be  advan- 
tageous  to   all.'     The   Princess   Margaret   was  therefore 

'  The  authorities  for  these  negotiations  are  chiefly  found  in  the  corre- 
spondence for  1657  and  1658.  AfT.  Elr.  All  ,  t.  134-137,  140-144. 
Memoires  de  Gramont,  285-311,  contain  the  account  Gramont  wrote  of  his 
negotiations,  which  are  more  fully  contained  in  his  destpatches.  The  articles 
of  the  League  of  the  Rhine  are  published  in  Dumont,  Corps  Dip.,  vi.,  2d 
part,  135-140,     '  Afl.  Etr.  Fr.,  277..  310.   Dis.  Ven.,  cxxi.,  217,  et passim. 


3l8      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND   MAZARIN. 

brought  to  Lyons,  and  if  she  was  found  satisfactory  by 
Louis,  it  was  expected  that  the  aUiance  would  then  be 
arranged. 

The  news  of  the  contemplated  visit  and  its  avowed  ob- 
ject led  Philip  IV.  to  make  the  offer  which  resulted  in  the 
Peace  of  the  Pyrenees.  In  Spain,  unlike  France,  the  suc- 
cession was  not  confined  to  males,  and  through  female  in- 
heritances and  marriages  that  kingdom  had  in  large  part 
been  consolidated.  Such  a  law  afforded  the  opportunity  for 
the  indefinite  accumulation  of  kingdoms.  Charles  V.,  who 
sought  to  create  an  empire  like  that  of  Charlemagne,  had 
suggested  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  with  the  future 
Henry  II.,  where  one  death  would  have  left  the  couple 
rulers  of  France,  Spain,  Flanders,  and  all  the  other  posses- 
sions in  Europe  and  America  that  belonged  to  Charles. 
They  would  have  been,  as  the  treaty  said,  the  greatest 
monarchs  in  the  world.' 

But  in  the  next  century  the  possibility  of  such  a  heritage 
seemed  alarming,  and  instead  of  a  dream  of  universal  em- 
pire, it  was  viewed  more  as  Spain's  yielding  herself  to  a 
French  king.  Though  Anne  of  Austria  had  several  broth- 
ers, a  formal  renunciation  of  her  rights  to  the  Spanish 
crown  had  been  executed  as  one  of  the  conditions  of  her 
marriage  with  Louis  XIII.  There  had  never  seemed  any 
probability  of  her  becoming  the  heiress  to  the  inheritance 
which  she  thus  renounced,  and  the  validity  of  this  instru- 
ment had  not  been  discussed.  But  for  many  years  it  had 
seemed  possible  that  Spain  and  her  possessions  might 
become  the  heritage  of  the  daughter  of  Philip  IV.  In 
1646,  by  the  death  of  her  brother,  the  Infanta,  Maria 
Theresa,  became  the  heir  presumptive  to  the  Spanish 
throne. 

During  the  negotiations  for  the  Peace  of  Westphalia, 
the  idea  of  her  marriage  to  Louis  XIV.  had  been  sug- 
gested, and  Mazarin  had  been  eager  for  such  an  alliance, 
if  the  Spanish  Netherlands  could  be  added  as  a  dowry. 
The  possibility  of  a  much  greater  inheritance  was  apparent 

'  Negociations  relatives  k  la  succession  d'Espagne,  i.,  25,  26. 


PEACE   OF  THE  PYRENEES.  3I9 

and  Mazarin  wrote  in  1646,  before  her  brother's  death, 
that  if  the  Infanta  were  married  to  his  Majesty,  France 
could  aspire  to  the  succession  of  the  kingdoms  of  Spain, 
whatever  renunciation  might  be  made,  and  that  this  would 
not  be  a  remote  contingency,  as  only  her  brother's  life  inter- 
vened.* But  the  cardinal  justly  viewed  the  possession  of 
the  Low  Countries  as  more  important  than  this  possibility, 
and  if  these  had  ultimately  been  obtained  for  France,  in- 
stead of  the  throne  of  Spain  for  a  Bourbon  king,  the  mar- 
riage with  Maria  Theresa  would  indeed  have  crowned  the 
Peace  of  the  Pyrenees. 

Philip  IV.  married  a  second  time,  but  he  had  no  more 
sons,  and  his  daughter,  in  1656,  still  remained  the  heir 
presumptive.  Her  father  was  a  man  well  past  middle  life, 
and  with  the  infirm  health  that  had  become  hereditary' 
in  the  royal  family  of  Spain.  When  Lionne  went  to 
Madrid  in  the  endeavor  to  make  a  peace  in  1656,  he  was 
instructed  to  intimate  that  the  most  liberal  concessions 
would  be  granted  from  the  demands  which  France  made, 
if  the  Infanta  could  become  the  wife  of  Louis  XIV.  The 
discreet  envoy,  when  he  made  the  proposition,  wrote  that 
he  had  seen  the  Infanta  and  found  her  pleasing,  graceful, 
and  beautiful.  When  it  was  declined,  he  reported  that 
having  again  seen  Maria  Theresa,  he  had  not  discovered 
in  her  either  the  beauty  or  the  charm,  which  he  had  at  first 
imagined  that  she  possessed.'  The  Spanish  ministers  had 
*  then  given  no  encouragement  to  the  suggestion,  but  since 
1656  the  situation  had  been  much  modified.  While  France 
had  gained  large  advantages  in  the  field,  the  matrimonial 
value  of  the  Infanta  had  diminished.  In  1657  a  son  was 
born  to  Philip  IV.,  and  two  lives  now  stood  between 
Maria  Theresa  and  the  throne.  The  intelligence  of  this 
birth  was  favorably  received  in  France.  Anne  of  Austria's 
strongest  desire  was  the  marriage  of  her  son  with  her 
brother's  daughter,  and  this  event  rendered  such  an  alli- 
ance  possible.       French   statesmen    felt   that    by  it   the 

'  Mazarin  ^  Servien,  January  20,  1646. 
*  Lionne  A  I.1  Reine,  Aug.  4  and  Sept.  24,  1656. 


320       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

danger  was  diminished  of  a  union  of  Spain,  Austria,  and 
the  Empire,  by  the  marriage  of  the  Infanta  with  the 
young  Leopold.' 

From  this  time  the  Spanish  ministers  contemplated  a 
marriage  of  the  Infanta  with  Louis  XIV.  as  a  means  of 
making  peace,  but  with  their  customary  procrastination,  a 
year  passed  before  any  overtures  were  made.  The  battle 
of  the  Dunes,  the  League  of  the  Rhine,  and,  still  more, 
the  interview  at  Lyons  stirred  them  into  activity.  The 
offer  must  be  made  now,  or  Louis  would  soon  be  married 
to  Margaret  of  Savoy, 

Accordingly  Pimentel  was  ordered  to  proceed  with  all 
haste  to  the  Court  of  France,  and  to  intimate  that  Spain 
was  ready  to  make  peace,  and  that  the  marriage  of  the 
Infanta  to  Louis  XIV.  should  be  one  of  its  conditions.' 

The  French  Court,  wishing  perhaps  to  give  Spain  an 
opportunity  to  suggest  such  an  alliance,  had  proceeded  to 
Lyons  with  great  deliberation.  Pimentel  reached  there 
first,  and  on  November  19th  he  notifiv.J  Mazarin  of  his 
arrival."  His  visit  was  shrouded  in  mystery,  and  when 
the  cardinal  reached  Lyons  they  held  secret  interviews. 
The  Spanish  had  suggested  a  truce  for  a  year,  to  give  time 
for  the  discussion  of  terms  of  peace,  but  Mazarin  declined 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cxx.,  179.     Mem.  de  Motteville,  468. 

*  Archives  nationales.  Documents  sur  la  Paix  des  Pyrenees.  K.  1616,  c.  3. 
The  documents  and  letters  in  reference  to  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees  are 
largely  found  in  that  collection.  Also  in  Aff.  Etr.  Espagne,  t.  34,  35,  etc. 
Mazarin's  letters  to  Le  Tellier,  which  contain  a  full  history  of  the  negotia- 
tions at  the  Isle  of  Pheasants,  are  found,  in  copies,  at  the  Biblioth^que  Na- 
tionale,  Mss.,  4213.,  4214.,  and  Tellier's  replies,  4215.  Many  of  the  most 
important  papers  and  letters  have  been  printed,  and  may  be  found  in  "  Am- 
bassadesde  Hujjuesde  Lionne,"andin  "  Negociations  relatives  a  la  Succession 
d'Espagne,"  t,  i.  Two  volumes,  containing  most  of  Mazarin's  letters  about 
his  negotiations  with  Luis  de  Haro,  are  published  in  an  edition  of  Am- 
sterdam, 1745.  Some  of  these  letters,  with  the  errors  of  that  edition  cor- 
rected, are  found  in  Chantelauze's  "Louis  XIV.  et  Marie  Mancini."  The 
correspondence  of  Mazarin,  Lionne,  and  Le  Tellier  and  the  documents  of 
the  "Archives  nationales  "  enable  one  to  follow  the  history  of  the  treaty  with 
accuracy.  The  negotiations  of  the  Island  of  Pheasants  are  also  described, 
usually  with  correctness,  in  Dis.  Ven.,  cxxii.,  et  passim. 

•  AfF.  Etr.  Esp.,  34.     Pimenter  k  Mazarin. 


PEACE   OF  THE  PYRENEES.  321 

to  check  the  progress  of  the  French  arms.  Pimentel  there- 
fore wrote  to  Madrid  for  authority  to  negotiate  a  final 
peace  at  once.' 

In  the  meantime  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Savoy  and 
their  daughter  had  arrived  at  Lyons.  Louis  was  not  at 
once  notified  of  Pimentel's  errand,  and  he  found  the 
Princess  Margaret  agreeable  to  his  tastes.  Courtiers 
already  saw  in  her  the  future  queen,  when  the  proposals 
of  Pimentel  destroyed  her  matrimonial  hopes.  The  change 
in  Louis'  manner  was  apparent,  and  Mazarin  felt  bound  to 
inform  the  duchess  of  the  proposals  that  had  been  made, 
and  that  the  interests  of  France  required  them  to  consider 
this  opportunity  for  the  restoration  of  peace.  As  some  con- 
solation a  written  promise  was  given,  that  if  a  treaty  for 
marriage  with  the  Infanta  was  not  made  by  May,  1659, 
Louis  would  then  marry  Margaret  of  Savoy.'  The  mother 
dropped  a  few  tears,  but  if  the  daughter  felt  any  regret  at 
the  probable  loss  of  the  most  brilliant  match  in  Christen- 
dom, she  was  able  to  conceal  it.  She  bore  herself  with 
dignity  and  apparent  unconcern. 

In  many  respects  the  alliance  with  Savoy  would  have 
been  as  acceptable  to  Mazarin  as  that  with  the  Infanta. 
His  niece  was  married  to  a  prince  of  Savoy,  and  his  rela- 
tions with  that  house  were  intimate  and  amicable.  But 
not  only  was  the  Spanish  marriage  the  great  desire  of 
Anne  of  Austria,  but  the  peace  which  would  result  from 
it  was  much  desired  by  the  minister.  His  confidential 
letters  show  that  he  hoped  that  the  victories  of  Turenne 
might  at  last  compel  the  Spanish  to  sue  for  peace.* 
Though  the  armies  of  France  were  victorious,  her  finances 
were  involved  and  her  people  weary  of  war.  Mazarin's 
physical  infirmities  were  increasing,  and  he  wished  to 
crown  his  career  by  another  treaty  which  would  rank 
with  that  of  Westphalia. 

Curiosity  had  been  excited  in  all  Europe  as  to  the 
reason  why  the  alliance  with  .Savoy  had    not   been  ar- 

'  Arch,  nat.,  j«/nj.  •  Executed  Dec.  6th.     Published  by  Valfrey. 

*  Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  275.     Mazarin  4  la  Keine,  Aug.  2,  1658,  et passim. 


322       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

ranged.  In  the  explanations  which  the  cardinal  felt  bound 
to  send  his  diplomatic  agents,  he  professed  to  regard  the 
negotiations  with  Spain  as  unlikely  to  result  in  peace,  and 
a  marriage  with  the  Infanta,  since  the  birth  of  her  brother, 
as  presenting  no  great  advantages.*  But  in  truth,  Pi- 
mentel  received  further  authority  from  Madrid,  and 
came  to  Paris,  and  the  negotiations  for  a  final  peace  were 
conducted  with  vigor,  though  also  with  great  secrecy. 
They  made  such  progress  that  an  armistice  was  declared 
when  the  season  was  reached  for  military  operations,  and  in 
June,  1659,  a  treaty  was  signed.  It  provided  for  the  mar- 
riage of  the  Infanta  with  Louis  XIV.  France  was  to 
hold  substantially  all  the  conquests  she  had  made  down 
to  1656,  and  to  restore  most  of  the  places  she  had  taken 
since.  The  Spanish  struggled  hard  to  obtain  favorable 
terms  for  the  Prince  of  Cond^,  but  without  success. 
Upon  asking  forgiveness  of  the  king,  his  rank  and  prop- 
erty in  France  would  be  restored  to  him.  but  not  the 
governments  which  he  had  possessed.  Mazarin  would 
agree  to  nothing  more,  and  Pimentel  yielded.  But  the 
Spanish  were  determined  that  Portugal  should  not  be  in- 
cluded in  the  treaty,  for  they  were  as  resolved  on  the  sub- 
jugation of  that  rebellious  kingdom,  as  they  had  formerly 
been  on  crushing  rebellion  in  the  United  Provinces.  The 
relations  between  France  and  Portugal  had  not  for  some 
years  been  very  close,  but  still,  though  no  treaty  pre- 
vented, it  seemed  harsh  to  leave  this  ally  exposed  unaided 
to  the  vengeance  of  Spain.  Mazarin  offered  to  return  all 
the  conquests  France  had  made  in  the  Low  Countries  if 
Portugal  could  be  included  in  the  peace,  but  it  is  probable 
that  he  made  so  great  an  offer,  because  he  knew  it  would 
not  be  accepted.  Many  questions  required  still  further 
adjustment,  and  it  was  therefore  agreed  that  Mazarin  and 
Don  Luis  de  Haro,  the  chief  ministers  of  the  two  coun- 
tries, should  meet  and  arrange  personally  concerning  them.' 

'  Mazarin  k  Bordeaux,  Dec,  13,  1658  ;  b.  Gravel,  Dec.  17th.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1658,  he  told  the  Venetian  ambassador  that  the  king  would  marry 
the  Infanta,  if  the  Spanish  proposed  it.     Dis.  Yen.,  cxxi.,  150. 

*  Afi.  Etr.  Esp.,  35.     Arch,  nationales  cited  JM/ra. 


PEACE  OF  THE  PYRENEES.  323 

In  June,  Mazarin  left  Paris  for  the  conference,  and 
Haro  also  started  from  Madrid.  The  great  interests  that 
were  to  be  settled  by  this  treaty,  the  long  war  which 
it  would  end,  and  the  unusual  feature  that  it  was  to  be 
negotiated  in  person  by  the  two  men  who  were  the  rulers 
of  the  countries  they  represented,  drew  the  attention  of 
all  Europe  to  the  Isle  of  Pheasants,  the  curious  place  that 
had  been  fixed  upon  for  the  meeting.  There  also  re- 
sorted the  representatives  of  almost  every  important 
European  power.  The  Empire  and  Sweden,  the  republic 
of  England  and  the  king  of  England,  Savoy  and  Mo- 
dena,  the  kingdom  of  Portugal,  the  Pope,  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine,  the  Prince  of  Cond^,  and  many  other  persons 
and  states  of  more  or  less  importance,  all  desired  to  have 
some  part  in  the  great  treaty,  and  Mazarin  hoped  that 
one  might  be  made  which  would  regulate  the  affairs  of 
Europe  and  ensure  a  stable  and  universal  peace.' 

A  domestic  incident  disturbed  the  cardinal  when  he 
was  devoting  himself  to  making  peace  for  Europe,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  it  might  destroy  the  basis  of  the  whole  treaty, 
and  leave  France  and  Spain  again  involved  in  an  al- 
most endless  war.  Among  Mazarin's  many  nieces  was 
Marie  Mancini,  a  girl  not  possessed  of  any  extraordinary 
beauty,  but  vivacious,  ambitious,  and  charming.  Like 
her  sisters  and  cousins,  she  was  thrown  very  intimately 
with  the  king,  and  his  friendship  grew  into  affection. 
Marie  Mancini  equalled  Mme.  de  Maintenon  both  in  am- 
bition and  discretion,  and  Louis*  passion  reached  such  a 
height  that  he  implored  his  mother  and  the  cardinal  to 
allow  him  to  marry  her. 

Some  contemporary  writers  claimed  that  the  cardinal 
was  for  a  moment  allured  by  the  prospect  of  seeing  his 
niece  the  queen  of  France,  and  one  of  them  has  described 
Anne  of  Austria  declaring  to  him  that  the  French  peo- 
ple would  rise  in  revolt  against  such  baseness,  and  she 
herself  would  march  at  their  head.'     This  famous  conver- 

•  Conversation  with  Giustiniani,  Dis.  Ven.,  cxxii.,  67. 
•  Motteville,  475. 


324       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

sation  occurred,  doubtless,  only  in  the  imagination  of  the 
zealous  friend,  who  does  not  claim  to  have  heard 
it.  Such  was  not  the  language  with  which  the  queen 
addressed  Mazarin,  and  the  surer  record  of  his  letters 
and  his  conduct  does  not  show  that  he  ever  approved  so 
injudicious  a  measure.  He  had  nothing  to  gain  by- 
it  and  much  to  lose.  He  would  become  the  uncle  of  a 
queen,  instead  of  the  successor  of  Richelieu.  To  have  his 
niece  the  queen  of  France  might  under  some  circum- 
stances have  gratified  his  vanity,  but  the  negotiations 
for  the  Spanish  alliance  had  been  practically  arranged 
when  the  passion  of  Louis  XIV.  reached  its  height. 
The  cardinal  would  have  sacrificed  the  treaty  which  he 
believed  would  help  to  ensure  him  permanent  fame ; 
he  would  have  incurred  the  enmity  of  the  nation  for  the 
continuance  of  the  war,  the  enmity  of  the  queen  for  inter- 
fering with  her  favorite  scheme,  and  the  enmity  of  Louis, 
so  soon  as  his  passion  had  abated,  and  he  realized  that  the 
greatest  prince  in  the  world  had  made  a  misalliance.  Had 
Marie  been  able  to  control  the  king's  policy,  it  would  not 
have  advanced  the  interests  of  Mazarin.  He  already  pos- 
sessed to  the  fullest  extent  the  affection  and  the  confi- 
dence of  Louis  XIV.,  and  he  had  little  hold  on  his  niece, 
who  was  impatient,  ungovernable,  and  wasted  very  little 
love  on  her  uncle.' 

At  all  events,  he  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  this  affair  of 
the  heart,  and  in  June,  1659,  Marie  Mancini  was  ordered 
to  leave  the  Court,  and  she  was  taken  to  Brouage.  She 
was  then  a  girl  of  twenty,  with  a  passionate  and  ambitious 
nature,  and  she  not  only  hoped  to  become  a  queen,  .but  she 
was  also  fond  of  Louis.  The  unhappy  lover  wept  at  the 
parting.  "  You  weep ;  you  are  the  king,  and  I  depart," 
said  the  poor  Marie  as  she  was  driven  away."     But  the  af- 

*  The  question  of  the  relations  of  Louis  XIV.  and  Marie  Mancini  and  what 
Mazarin's  original  desires  were,  has  received  an  amount  of  attention  which 
seems  out  of  proportion  toits  importance.  M.Cheruel  gives  it  twenty-five  pages 
in  his  history,  and  Chantelauze  has  devoted  a  whole  volume  to  the  subject. 

'This  parting,  with  some  variety  of  expression,  isgivenby  alarge  number  of 
contemporary  writers,  and  Marie  seems  to  have  said  sometlung  of  this  nature. 


PEACE  OF  THE  PYRENEES.  325 

fair  was  not  ended  yet.  Permission  to  write  was  injudi- 
ciously granted  the  lovers,  in  order  somewhat  to  console 
the  king's  melancholy.  The  permission  was  used  with  the 
ardor  of  eager  lovers.  "  You  do  not  write  letters  every 
day,"  Mazarin  remonstrated  with  Louis,  "  but  entire  vol- 
umes. You  have  no  time,  except  to  write  your  own  let- 
ters and  read  the  answers."  "The  king  is  sending  off  vol- 
umes to  La  Rochelle  and  cultivating  a  passion  which  will 
only  make  him  unhappy,"  Mazarin  told  the  queen.'  The 
cardinal  wrote  the  king,  in  letters  that  are  creditable  to  his 
good  judgment,  and  speak  much  for  the  manner  in  which 
he  educated  his  royal  pupil,  that  to  refuse  to  marry  the 
Infanta  would  expose  his  state  and  his  subjects  to  great 
evils,  and  that  he  should  not  sacrifice  to  any  temporary 
passion  his  honor  and  the  preservation  of  his  kingdom.* 
Louis  agreed  to  the  negotiations  for  the  marriage,  but  the 
cardinal  insisted  that  he  should  also  abandon  any  feeling 
that  would  make  the  Infanta's  lot  unhappy,  and  he  wrote 
so  sharp  a  letter  on  the  king's  conduct  and  the  disgrace 
of  a  misalliance  with  one  who  had  a  thousand  faults  and 
not  a  good  quality,  that  he  drew  from  Louis  a  very  curt 
and  sulky  reply.'  But  the  affair  was  at  last  broken  off. 
Marie  found  that  Louis*  marriage  with  the  Infanta  was 
settled  upon,  and  she  stopped  the  correspondence.  Maz- 
arin wrote  to  the  girl  who  had  lost  her  lover  and  the 
throne  of  France,  advising  her  to  find  consolation  in  read- 
ing Seneca.  It  is  not  strange  that  the  cardinal's  nieces 
had  little  love  for  their  uncle. 

In  the  meantime,  the  negotiators  for  peace  had  met  on 
the  Isle  of  Pheasants.  This  is  a  little  island,  but  a  few 
hundred  feet  long,  in  a  small  stream  that  divided  France 
from  Spain.  While  the  southern  half  belonged  to 
Spain,  the  northern  half  was  in  the  territory  of  France. 
It  had,  therefore,  been  chosen,  with  great  diplomatic  nicety, 
as  a  place  where  the  representatives  of  the  two  nations 
could  meet  without  either  making  any  undignified  ad- 

'  Mazarin  au  Roi,  Aug.  28th,  k  la  Reine,  Aug.  26th. 
*  Mazarin  au  Roi,  July  i6th.  *  lb.,  Aug.  28th  and  Sept.  1st. 


326      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

varices.  On  the  island  were  erected  temporary  dwellings^ 
which  were  also  divided  into  precisely  equal  parts.  The 
rooms  of  the  ministers  opened  into  a  common  apartment, 
into  which  they  could  enter  unattended  and  confer  with 
each  other.  Even  this  had  to  be  furnished  one  half  by 
each,  and  Mazarin  complained  there  was  enough  time 
wasted  over  having  the  tapestries  the  same,  to  finish  the 
negotiations  and  restore  peace  to  Christendom.'  He  was 
delayed  by  the  gout,  and  the  Spanish  by  formalities,  and 
it  was  not  until  August  13th  that  the  interviews  began 
between  the  two  ministers. 

It  had  been  hoped  that  the  treaty  signed  in  June  would 
leave  little  more  to  be  done,  but  Don  Luisde  Haro  endeav- 
ored to  obtain  some  changes  in  its  provisions,  and  these  and 
all  other  questions  which  arose  were  debated  with  Spanish 
tenacity  and  slowness.  The  ministers  met  and  talked  to- 
gether four,  five,  or  six  hours  at  a  time,  yet  nearly  three 
months*  time  was  occupied  before  the  treaty  was  signed. 
The  article  of  the  marriage  caused  little  trouble.  Don 
Luis  insisted  on  the  Infanta's  renouncing  her  rights  to  the 
Spanish  succession.  Mazarin  protested  in  vain  that  France 
sacrificed  much  of  the  advantage  she  had  gained  in  the  war 
for  this  alliance,  but  if  it  was  to  be  hampered  by  a  renun- 
ciation, Louis  himself  was  certainly  quite  as  good  a  match 
as  the  Infanta.  Haro  told  him  that  should  Philip  IV.  die 
leaving  no  sons,  they  should  hope  rather  than  expect  that 
France  would  not  claim  the  inheritance,  but  the  form  of  a 
renunciation  they  must  have."  Mazarin  agreed  to  it,  but 
insisted  on  a  dowry  of  500,000  crowns,  payable  in  three 
years,  and  Lionne  drew  the  articles  in  such  a  manner  that 
Maria  Theresa's  renunciation  was  upon  the  condition  this 
should  be  paid.  The  Spanish  minister  objected  to  such  a 
proviso,  but  he  was  told  it  could  do  no  harm,  if  they 
intended  to  pay  the  money.  The  articles  were  so  drawn, 
and  the  dower  was  not  paid,  and  this  was  afterwards  claimed 
by  Louis  XIV.  as  a  ground  for  insisting  that  the  renuncia- 

'  Mazarin  a  Le  Tellier,  Aug.  5th  and  loth  ;  Lionne,  Aug.  12th. 
•  lb.,  Aug.  17th  and  23d. 


PEACE   OF  THE  PYRENEES.  327 

tion  had  never  been  of  any  force.'  Construing  an  instru- 
ment which  affected  the  welfare  of  nations  as  one  would  an 
ordinary  commercial  contract,  the  claim  seems  to  have 
been  well  founded. 

But  the  chief  contention  in  these  protracted  negotia- 
tions was  over  the  interests  of  the  Prince  of  Cond6.  The 
Spanish  had  decided  that  obtaining  some  advantage  for 
the  prince  was  a  matter  of  honor,  and  they  therefore  gave 
to  this  more  attention  than  to  any  question  of  real  import- 
ance for  Spain.  The  interests  of  the  prince  had  caused 
the  rupture  in  1656,  and  they  nearly  broke  off  the  nego- 
tiations for  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees.  By  the  treaty 
signed  in  June,  Pimentel  had  agreed  to  the  terms  imposed 
by  France.  Cond6  should  have  pardon  and  his  property, 
but  not  the  governments  which  had  made  him  dangerous. 
The  prince  had  been  dismayed  by  this  desertion.  He 
asked  for  himself  and  his  followers  a  restoration  of  all  the 
governments  and  offices  which  they  had  held  in  France, 
or  he  would  be  content  if  Spain  would  give  him  Franche 
Comt6,  and  let  him  hold  it  as  an  independent  sovereign.* 

Cond^,  however,  was  anxious  to  return  to  France,  and 
asked  that  the  negotiations  should  not  be  broken  off, 
even  if  his  demands  were  refused.  But  a  clique  of  his  zeal- 
ous followers  surrounded  Don  Luis  de  Haro,  furnished 
him  arguments  to  use,  and  impressed  upon  him  that  Span- 
ish honor  would  be  tarnished  unless  something  good  was 
obtained  for  the  prince.  Haro  began  asking  that  some 
additional  grace  should  be  extended  to  Gondii,  and  it  was  in 
vain  that  Mazarin  insisted  that  the  whole  matter  was  regula- 
ted by  the  treaty  of  June,  and  that  unless  Spain  intended  to 
repudiate  that,  the  question  was  ended.  During  every 
interview  for  weeks  Don  Luis  argued,  pleaded,  and  en- 
treated for  the  prince.  He  asked  how  a  prince  of  such 
merit  could  live  in  France  with  proper  state,  unless  he 
possessed  his  former  governments.  Mazarin  replied  that 
Cond^  could  live  like  fifty  other  princes  of  the  blood,  who, 

'  Narration  par  Lionne,  Aff.  Etr.  Esp.,  41.  Contract  of  Marriage, 
article  4.  *  Instructions  pour  Caillet,  published  in  Lenet,  627-630. 


328       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

though  they  had  never  been  traitors  to  their  country,  were 
content  with  the  revenues  of  their  private  estates.  Don 
Luis  protested  that  if  Cond6  were  thus  treated,  Spain 
could  not  hope  to  gain  allies  in  the  future  ;  but  the  cardi- 
nal answered  that  he  did  not  wish  to  furnish  any  induce- 
ment for  French  subjects  to  ally  themselves  with  the 
Spanish  king.' 

But  Mazarin  advised  that  an  offer  should  be  made  to  give 
Conde  the  government  of  Burgundy,  if  Spain  would  grant 
some  additional  places  to  France.  In  Burgundy  the 
prince  could  do  no  harm,  and  if  he  behaved  himself,  he 
would  probably,  before  many  years,  receive  as  much  as 
that,  as  a  gift  from  the  king.  By  this  device  the 
Spanish  would  satisfy  their  vanity  and  do  something  for 
their  ally,  at  the  cost  of  some  strong  place? '  After  re- 
fusing to  listen  to  Don  Luis'  protests,  the  cardinal  at  last 
intimated  that  while  infinitely  preferring  the  conditions  of 
the  treaty  of  June,  Cond6  could  have  the  government  of 
Burgundy  on  these  terms.*  The  Spanish  minister  was 
very  loath  to  add  to  the  long  list  of  places  which  were 
already  to  be  ceded,  but  Condi's  friends  were  pertinacious, 
and  Don  Luis  was  far  from  having  Richelieu's  ability  to 
say  no.  It  was  agreed  therefore  that  upon  condition  of 
Condi's  asking  pardon  for  his  rebellion,  and  the  king  of 
Spain's  granting  to  France  the  important  city  of  Avesnes 
and  the  country  depending  on  it,  and  returning  Juliers  to 
the  Duke  of  Neuburg,  the  prince  should  not  only  receive 
his  private  estate,  making  no  claim  for  damages  during 
the  years  he  had  been  deprived  of  its  income,  but  he 
should  also  be  made  governor  of  Burgundy,  and  his  son 
should  have  the  office  of  Grand  Master,  which  the  prince 
had  formerly  held.  Cond^  was  obliged  to  surrender  Ro- 
croi,  and  abandon  all  claim  to  the  government  of  Guienne, 
and  his  son  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his  claim  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  Champagne.  His  followers  were  pardoned 
and  their  private  estates  were  restored,  but  they  were  not 

'  Mazarin  4  Le  Tellier,  Aug.  2ist. 
•  lb.,  Aug.  14th  ;  au  Roi.,  Aug.  21st.  *  lb.,  Aug.  25th. 


PEACE    OF  THE   PYRENEES.  329 

given  the  offices  or  governments  which  they  had  formerly 
possessed.  Even  after  this  was  agreed  upon,  the  zeal  of 
Condi's  friends  nearly  caused  a  breach  between  the  pleni- 
potentiaries. Lionne  had  drafted  most  of  the  treaty,  but 
Don  Luis  said  he  also  could  be  a  draughtsman,  and  he 
accordingly  presented  articles  in  reference  tothe  prince, 
which  had  been  prepared  by  Lenet  and  some  other  of 
his  followers.  They  changed  nothing  in  substance,  but 
they  contained  long  recitals  of  how  the  high  and  mighty 
Louis  of  Bourbon  had  for  certain  reasons  retired  from 
France,  but  had  never  ceased  to  labor  for  a  just  reconcil- 
iation and  a  general  peace,  which  had  been  the  sole  object 
of  his  desires.  The  messenger  had  already  been  ordered 
to  start  and  make  the  formal  demand  for  the  Infanta's 
hand,  which  would  close  the  negotiation.  When  Mazarin 
saw  these  articles,  he  stopped  him  on  his  journey,  and  in- 
formed Don  Luis  that  if  he  insisted  that  the  French  king 
should  be  insulted  in  the  wording  of  the  treaty  he  could 
advise  him  at  two  that  afternoon,  and  the  cardinal  would 
thereupon  announce  the  step  which  had  been  resolved 
upon.  Haro  at  last  abandoned  his  attempts  to  soothe 
further  the  wounded  pride  of  the  Prince  of  Cond^,  and 
said  that  Mazarin  could  draw  the  articles  about  him  as  he 
saw  fit,  and  he  would  sign  them  without  reading.* 

No  change  was  made  in  the  terms  about  Portugal. 
Mazarin  offered  to  restore  to  Cond6  all  that  he  had  pos- 
sessed, if  the  Spanish  would  include  Portugal  in  the  treaty. 
The  offer  was  not  accepted,  and  the  cardinal  knew  it 
would  not  be  when  he  made  it.'  Nothing  was  secured 
for  Portugal  but  a  truce  for  three  months.  France 
agreed  to  furnish  her  no  further  aid,  an  agreement 
which  was  afterwards  to  a  large  extent  evaded.  It  was, 
perhaps,  felt  that  the  conduct  of  France  was  not  chival- 

'  Mazarin  h.  Le  Tellier,  Sept.  30th  and  Oct.  3d.  These  letters  contain  * 
copy  of  the  articles  as  presented  by  Don  Luis.  The  articles  inserted  in  the 
treaty  recited  that  the  prince  had  confessed  his  extreme  regret  for  his  con- 
duct, and  would  gladly  redeem  with  his  blood  the  acts  of  hostility  he  had 
committed  both  within  and  without  France. — Art.  79. 

'  Mazarin  4  Le  Tellier,  Aug.  19th. 


330      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

rous,  for  Mazarin  insisted  that  this  should  be  one  of  the 
secret  articles.'  Spain's  pertinacity  in  reference  to  Portu- 
gal did  her  no  good.  She  was  so  reduced  by  the  war  that 
Portugal  alone  was  more  than  a  match  for  her. 

There  was  much  discussion  of  the  affairs  of  England. 
The  death  pf  Oliver  Cromwell  had  greatly  diminished  the 
influence  of  that  country  in  Europe.  With  the  internal 
troubles  that  were  now  showing  themselves,  Charles  II. 
claimed  that  his  restoration  would  be  easy,  and  he  endeav- 
ored to  have  France  and  Spain  agree  to  aid  him.  Don 
Luis  said  that  he  would  like  to  give  him  some  encourage- 
ment, because  the  mild  and  pleasant  way  in  which  Charles 
asked  for  aid  contrasted  so  agreeably  Nvith  the  terrible 
importunities  of  the  Duke  of  Lorraine.  Both  ministers 
agreed  that  the  republic  of  England  would  be  a  power  to  be 
dreaded  by  its  neighbors,  and  much  more  formidable  than 
that  country  under  its  kings,  so  that  it  was  for  their  in- 
terest to  restore  the  Stuarts."  An  agent  offered  to  Maza- 
rin that  Charles  II.  should  marry  one  of  his  nieces  and 
give  him  the  government  of  Ireland,  if  he  would  espouse 
the  king's  cause.'  But  the  cardinal  declined  to  involve 
France  in  any  agreement  for  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts, 
and  it  was  agreed  that  she  should  remain  neutral  in  the 
war  which  still  continued  between  England  and  Spain.* 

The  preparation  of  so  long  a  treaty,  and  the  contests 
over  the  possessions  ceded,  occupied  a  great  deal  of  time. 
Mazarin  complained  that  if  the  Spanish  were  to  discuss 
every  word,  the  conference  would  last  till  the  day  of 
judgment,  but  every  thing  was  finally  agreed  upon.'  The 
negotiations  about  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees  are  among 

'  It  is  Article  3  of  the  .Secret  Articles. 

'Mazarin  a  Tellier,  Nov.  6ih.  lb.,  Aug.  25th  and  Uct.  24th.  "Que 
la  Republique  d'Angleterre  s'etablisssant,  ce  seroit  iine  puissance  i  redouter 
par  tous  ses  voisins,  puisque,  sans  exageration,  elle  seroit  cent  fois  plus 
considerable,  que  n'etoit  celle  des  rois  d'Angleterre,"  etc.  Mazarin 's 
estimate  of  the  influence  England  would  have,  if  she  was  governed  by 
Charles  II.,  seems  to  have  been  accurate. 

•  Bodkin  i  Mazarin,  June  24th  and  July  22d  and  30th.   Aff.  Etr.  Esp.,  35. 

•  Articles  Secrets,  i.  ♦ 

•  Mazarin  i  Lionne,  Sept.  27tti. 


PEACE   OF  THE  PYRENEES.  331 

the  many  illustrations  of  Mazarin's  enormous  industry, 
and  their  study  must  impress  one  also  with  his  extraordi- 
nary ability  as  a  diplomat.  He  was  suffering  from  gout 
and  gravel,  from  which  he  died  within  two  years.  Not- 
withstanding this,  in  less  than  three  months  spent  at  the 
Isle  of  Pheasants,  he  attended  twenty-five  formal  confer- 
ences, each  of  which  lasted  from  four  to  six  hours.  The 
letters  he  wrote,  which  have  been  published,  fill  over  two 
volumes,  and  a  great  number  have  not  yet  been  printed. 
He  consulted  constantly  with  Lionne  as  to  every  detail  of 
the  treaty,  and  he  had  frequent  interviews  with  the  rep- 
resentatives and  agents  of  all  the  princes  and  states  who 
desired  attention  given  to  their  interests. 

It  was  now  sure  that  peace  would  be  made,  and  the 
Spanish  wished  a  special  envoy  sent  to  demand  the  hand 
of  the  Infanta.  The  Marshal  of  Gramont  was  chosen  for 
this  duty,  which  he  was  exceedingly  well  qualified  to  per- 
form. He  went,  surrounded  with  the  state  which  was 
gratifying  to  Spanish  pride.  The  envoy  of  a  young  king 
asking  the  hand  of  a  princess  should,  he  thought,  proceed 
with  hot  haste,  in  order  to  manifest  the  lover's  impatience, 
and  he  delighted  the  Spanish  taste  for  romance  and  ancient 
gallantry,  by  proceeding  at  full  gallop  from  the  gates  of 
Madrid  to  the  palace  of  the  king.  He  presented  the  re- 
quest of  his  master,  and  it  was  favorably  answered.  He 
saw  the  Infanta  and  endeavored  to  fill  the  role  of  one  who 
has  to  present  the  love  of  his  master,  but  his  eloquence 
extracted  from  her  Spanish  taciturnity  only  one  sentence 
in  reply.  From  this,  he  wrote  Mazarin,  he  could  not  form 
an  accurate  judgment  as  to  her  mind,  but  he  found  her 
person  in  every  way  charming.  Her  eyes  were  piercing 
and  her  mouth  beautiful,  but  as  she  opened  it  so  little  he 
could  not  report  about  her  teeth.'  The  Spanish  festivities 
pleased  him  less  than  the  future  queen.  The  music,  he 
said,  was  diabolical;  the  feasts  were  superb,  but  there  was 
nothing  one  could  eat.* 

'  Gramont  i  Mazarin,  Oct.  22d,  printed  in  his  memoirs. 
*  Mem.  de  Gramont,  311-320,  and  letters  there  published. 


332      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Every  thing  was  now  adjusted,  and  on  November  7, 
1659,  Mazarin  and  Don  Luis  de  Haro,  in  behalf  of  their 
respective  countries,  signed  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees.* 
Many  of  its  articles  have  already  been  stated.  It  granted 
to  France  Roussillon  and  the  county  of  Conflans.  Cata- 
lonia was  abandoned  to  Spain,  and  it  was  declared  that 
the  Pyrenees  should  divide  the  two  countries.  All  of 
Artois,  except  two  or  three  cities,  was  annexed  to  France, 
together  with  Gravelines  and  various  places  in  Flanders,  and 
considerable  portions  of  Hainault  ati  J  Luxembourg.  The 
other  places  belonging  to  Spain,  which  were  held  by 
France,  were  surrendered.  It  was  agreed  that  the  Duke 
of  Lorraine  should  be  reinstated,  but  the  fortifications  of 
Nancy  were  to  be  destroyed,  and  the  better  portion  of  his 
duchy  was  to  be  ceded  to  France.  If  he  did  not  see  fit  to 
accept  these  terms,  France  would  continue  in  the  rights 
she  claimed  over  the  entire  duchy  by  virtue  of  previous 
treaties.  The  Duke  Charles  made  Haro's  existence 
wretched  by  his  protests  at  what  he  claimed  was  the 
abandonment  of  his  interests  by  Spain,  and  he  refused  to 
accept  the  terms  of  the  treaty."  The  affairs  of  Cond^  and 
the  relations  of  Portugal  and  England  were  regulated  as 
had  been  agreed  by  the  ministers,  and  a  large  number  of 
questions  in  reference  to  various  Italian  princes  were  also 
disposed  of.  The  articles  about  the  marriage  of  Louis 
and  Maria  Theresa  were  signed  at  the  same  time,  and 
were  regarded  as  forming  part  of  the  Peace  of  the 
Pyrenees. 

By  the  treaty  France  gained  two  provinces  and  parts  of 
three  others.  The  war  had  added  largely  to  her  territory, 
and  it  had  established  her  superiority  over  Spain.  The 
countries  annexed  were  those  which  might  naturally  and 

'  With  the  exception  of  the  secret  articles,  the  treaty  is  published  in  Du- 
mont,  Corps.  Dip.,  vi.,  2d  part,  264-280.  These  are  found  in  the  Archives 
nationales. 

'  Haro  complained  of  the  discomfort  he  suffered  from  the  vehemence  of 
Lorraine's  protests  and  demands,  but  Mazarin  told  him  he  was  justly  pun- 
ished for  being  so  slow  in  finishing  the  treaty  that  the  duke  had  time  to  be 
released  from  prison  and  reach  the  Isle  of  Pheasants. 


PEACE   OF  THE  PYRENEES.  333: 

advantageously  become  portions  of  France,  and  they  in- 
creased her  prosperity  as  well  as  her  power.  But  the  treaty 
has  not  escaped  criticism.  For  sixteen  years  it  had  been 
charged  that  Mazarin  would  not  make  peace,  and  when  he 
did  make  it,  he  was  blamed  for  making  it  too  soon.  In 
another  campaign,  it  was  claimed,  Turenne  could  have 
completed  the  conquest  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands  and 
have  compelled  their  cession  to  France. 

Though  this  might  possibly  have  been  the  case,  Mazarin 
seems  to  have  been  justified  in  accepting  the  terms  that 
were  offered.  At  the  Isle  of  Pheasants,  as  at  Miinster,  he 
adopted  the  course  of  the  prudent  gamester,  and  made 
sure  of  large  gains,  instead  of  risking  them  in  the  chance 
of  winning  more.  In  1659  Spain  was  indeed  so  exhausted 
that  from  her,  unaided,  France  could  easily  have  con- 
quered what  remained  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands.  But 
it  is  not  probable  that  she  would  have  been  allowed  ta 
make  such  accessions  to  her  territory  without  opposition. 
The  fear  of  having  France  for  a  neighbor  had  led  Holland 
to  desert  her  ally  at  Westphalia,  and  the  United  Province"^ 
were  now  considering  an  alliance  with  Spain  to  prevent 
that  result.  Though  Leopold  was  bound  by  the  promise 
given  when  he  was  elected  Emperor,  it  was  only  a  promise. 
Overtures  had  been  made  for  his  marriage  with  Maria 
Theresa,  and,  had  they  been  accepted,  there  is  little  doubt 
that  the  Emperor  would  have  used  all  his  resources  to  pre- 
vent the  dismemberment  of  the  Spanish  monarchy. 

France  on  the  other  hand  could  expect  little  assistance 
from  England,  in  the  condition  of  that  country  after  the 
death  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  she  might  have  found  her- 
self opposed  to  a  coalition  such  as  was  subsequently 
formed  against  Louis  XIV.  Her  own  people  were  suffer- 
ing from  the  effects  of  the  long  war  and  from  the  burden 
of  constantly  increasing  taxation.  During  1 658  and  9  there 
were  risings  in  Normandy,  Poitou  and  other  provinces, 
of  people  made  desperate  by  the  exactions  of  the  tax 
gatherer.'     Peace  had  long  been  delayed,  and  to  neglect  a 

'  See  for  these  Dis.  Yen.,  cxx.,  cxxi.,  cxxii. , /<w.  ,•  and  Lettres de  Colbert,  t.  i 


334      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

favorable  opportunity  for  securing  it  would  have  been  to 
prolong  misery  for  the  chance  of  aggrandizement. 

A  more  serious  question  is  whether  Mazarin  acted 
wisely  in  having  the  marriage  with  Maria  Theresa  one  of 
the  conditions  of  the  peace.  To  a  certain  extent  this  was 
a  defensive  measure.  Her  marriage  with  the  Emperor 
was  contemplated,  and  the  French  were  dismayed  at  the 
possibility  of  seeing  Spain,  Austria,  and  the  Empire  under 
one  ruler.'  For  Louis  XIV.  to  marry  a  Spanish  princess 
was  not  an  important  measure,  except  from  the  chance  of 
what  she  might  inherit,  and  undoubtedly  the  king  and  his 
advisers,  and  even  the  Spanish,  attached  little  importance 
to  the  renunciation.  No  one  expected  it  would  be  re- 
garded, and  few  considered  it  as  of  any  validity.  To  ob- 
tain for  the  king  of  France  a  claim  to  the  succession  of 
Spain  was  an  unwise  and  chimerical  measure,  if  it  was  to 
result  in  an  endeavor  to  unite  two  separate  nations  under 
one  ruler.  It  was  puerile  as  well  as  unwise,  if  it  was  to 
involve  France  in  war  in  order  to  gratify  the  vanity  of  its 
sovereign  by  placing  one  of  his  family  on  the  Spanish 
throne.  But  Mazarin's  correspondence,  during  the  years 
that  this  marriage  was  regarded  as  a  possibility,  seems  to 
indicate  that,  in  case  the  succession  should  fall  to  Maria 
Theresa  or  her  heirs,  he  hoped  that  France  might  gain 
provinces  which,  like  Flanders  or  Franche  Comt6,  could 
become  integral  parts  of  the  kingdom.  The  evils  of  the 
war  of  the  Spanish  succession,  which  crippled  France  half 
a  century  later,  can  hardly  be  attributed  to  the  negotiators 
of  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees. 

The  marriage  itself  did  not  take  place  until  June,  1660. 
The  two  kings  then  met  on  the  frontiers  of  their  king- 
doms, and  the  various  ceremonies  and  interviews  were 
attended  with  much  state  and  display.  The  taste  for 
mountain  scenery  had  not  been  discovered  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  Those  of  the  French  courtiers  who 
visited  the  Pyrenees  complained  of  the  frightful  solitudes 

'  Mazarin  4  Le  Tellier,  Aug.  23,  1659  ;  i  Bordeaux,  Dec.  13,  1658,  etc. 
The  references  to  this  are  frequent. 


PEACE   OF  THE  PYRENEES.  335 

of  the  mountains,  the  horrid  rocks,  and  appalling  heights. 
The  ladies  criticised  also  the  ungainly  dresses  of  the 
Spanish  women,  their  enormous  coiffures  and  great  quan- 
tities of  false  hair,  their  foreheads  entirely  exposed  and 
unrelieved  by  frizzes.' 

During  this  year  Turenne  received  the  reward  which  he 
had  earned  by  his  great  services.  He  was  made  marshal- 
general,  and  the  highest  military  rank  in  France  was 
justly  bestowed  upon  her  greatest  soldier. 

While  Mazarin  was  at  the  Isle  of  Pheasants,  questions 
were  brought  before  him  in  which  he  showed  less  ability 
and  less  zeal  than  in  the  negotiations  for  the  Peace  of 
the  Pyrenees.  The  restoration  of  order  after  the  end  of 
the  Fronde  had  enabled  the  government  again  to  collect 
its  revenues  throughout  all  France.  Notwithstanding 
this,  the  expenses  of  the  war  and  the  disorders  and  frauds 
which  had  become  a  part  of  the  financial  system  would 
have  rendered  heavy  taxation  certain,  but  these  evils  were 
vastly  exaggerated  by  the  colossal  corruption  of  the 
Superintendent  Fouquet.  In  1652,  Colbert  wrote  Mazarin 
that  the  irregularities  in  the  finances  and  the  constant  want 
of  money  would  destroy  the  state,  unless  he  applied  himself 
to  discover  the  cause  of  these  evils,  and  to  correct  them,' 

Nothing  had  been  done,  and  the  treasury  was  placed 
under  the  control  of  a  man  who  had  the  ability  to  make 
the  greatest  use  of  its  disorders,  and  to  plunder  and  squan- 
der on  a  scale  of  extraordinary  magnificence.  Servien  and 
Nicholas  Fouquet  were  made  superintendents  of  finance 
in  1653,  the  one  an  experienced  and  upright  diplomat,  and 
the  other  a  man  who  had  shown  capacity  and  devotion  to 
Mazarin  during  the  troubles  of  the  Fronde.  Fouquet  soon 
manifested  much  ability  as  a  financier  of  a  certain  sort, 
and  he  developed  qualities  which  had  not  appeared  in  his 
early  career.  The  government  was  always  in  need  of 
ready  money,  and  its  credit  was  always  bad.  Fouquet 
gathered   about   him    a  body  of  financiers  to  whom  he 

'  M^m.  de  Mme.  de  Motteville,  487,  491. 
*  Lettres  de  Colbert,  i.,  192. 


336      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

allowed  enormous  profits  and  from  whom  he  could  obtain 
ready  money  at  all  times,  and  this  rendered  him  valuable 
to  an  impecunious  administration.  The  abuses  which  he 
practised  were  odious  to  Servien,  and  the  financiers  re- 
fused to  deal  except  with  Fouquet.  In  1654  the  latter 
succeeded  in  having  the  raising  of  money  placed  entirely 
in  his  hands,  and  he  freed  himself  more  and  more  from 
any  restraint  in  the  management  of  the  treasury,  until 
Servien's  death,  early  in  1659,  left  him  sole  superintendent. 

The  financial  system  was  such  that  it  had  long  been 
difficult  to  exercise  any  supervision,  and  Fouquet  en- 
deavored, and  with  success,  to  increase  the  confusion,  until 
no  one  could  discover  what  became  of  the  nation's  money. 
Tl  e  sums  raised  by  taxation  were  large,  and  the  duties 
were  so  increased  from  1653  to  1660,  that  it  was  claimed 
the  amount  received  from  their  farm  should  have  been 
augmented  by  one  third.  It  diminished  rather  than  in- 
creased, and  in  1659  Colbert  charged  that  while  the  net 
income  of  the  government  ought  to  have  been  90,000,000 
livres,  the  equivalent,  perhaps,  of  $90,000,000  now,  it  did 
not  exceed  40,000,000  livres.' 

Such  colossal  waste  was  caused  in  many  ways.  Instead 
of  the  expenses  being  defrayed  from  the  current  receipts, 
the  government  was  always  living  on  its  future  income. 
Advances  were  made  on  the  taxes  that  would  be  collected 
in  one  or  two  years,  and  on  these  the  government  paid,  on 
the  average,  interest  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  per  cent,  per 
annum.  But  this  great  profit  to  the  financiers  furnished 
the  opportunity  for  still  greater  frauds.  The  legal  rate  of 
interest  was  less  than  six  per  cent.  That  lenders  might 
receive  larger  rates  and  still  have  their  accounts  allowed 
by  law,  obligations  were  given  them  for  two  or  three  times 
the  amounts  they  actually  advanced.  When  the  loan  was 
repaid  it  was  supposed  in  theory  that  the  interest  would  be 
paid  on  all  the  obligations,  and  the  principal  be  paid  of  one, 
but  these  duplicate  instruments  were  often  used  to  cover 
robberies  perpetrated  by  Fouquet  and  his  associates. 

'  Colbert  k  Mazarin,  Oct,  i,  1659. 


PEACE   OF  THE  PYRENEES.  337 

The  farms  of  the  taxes  were  attended  with  similar  prodi- 
gality. The  friends  of  the  superintendent  were  the  only 
ones  who  could  hope  to  receive  them,  and  they  were 
awarded  at  figures  that  allowed  enormous  profits.  The 
appliances  for  fraud  were  not  yet  exhausted.  As  the 
government  was  rarely  supplied  with  ready  money,  orders 
were  given  its  creditors  drawn  on  various  funds.  Some 
of  these  funds  were  not  good  for  the  amount  of  the 
orders  outstanding,  and  the  officers  of  the  treasury  had 
almost  an  unlimited  discretion  as  to  which  they  would  pay, 
and  which  they  would  postpone.  There  were  thus  outstand- 
ing a  vast  amount  of  state  orders,  some  of  which  had 
originally  represented  valid  debts  and  some  of  which  had 
not.  These  could  be  bought  for  a  small  per  cent,  on  their 
face  value.  Great  quantities  of  them  were  obtained,  re- 
drawn on  funds  that  were  good,  and  paid  in  full.  Orders 
outstanding  since  1620  were  said  to  have  been  bought  at 
three  or  four  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  then  redeemed  at  par.' 
The  operation  was  the  same  as  it  would  have  been  for  an 
American  official  of  the  Treasury  to  have  purchased  old 
notes  issued  by  the  Continental  Congress,  and  have  passed 
them  in  at  par  in  settlement  of  his  accounts.  As  the 
monies  received  by  the  government  were  not  sufficient 
for  its  needs,  large  quantities  of  new  rentes  were  issued. 
On  some  of  them  it  did  not  receive  over  fifty  cents  on 
the  dollar,  and  on  large  amounts  that  were  entirely  fraud- 
ulent it  received  nothing. 

None  of  these  appliances  were  originated  by  Fouquet; 
he  only  developed  them  with  the  magnificence  of  a  cor- 
rupt genius.  The  enormous  and  unconscionable  gains  of 
those  who  dealt' with  the  government  had  been  cause  for 
just  complaint  for  over  forty  years,  and  these  were 
increased  under  Fouquet.  One  treasurer  of  the  exchequer 
asserted  that  he  had  made  a  million  and  a  half  in  a  year, 
ffhere  were  financiers  who  became  worth  ten,  twelve, 
and  fourteen  million  livres.  They  built  magnificent 
palaces,  kept  titled  mistresses,  and  gambled  away  with 

'  Lettres  de  Colbert,  vii.,  166. 


338      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

indifference  two  and  three  hundred  thousand  livres  in  a 
night.' 

But  while  Fouquet  hoped  to  become  indispensable  by 
his  ability  to  raise  ready  money  at  any  time,  he  desired 
also  to  obtain  for  himself  from  this  corruption  and  confu- 
sion, the  means  to  satisfy  a  profligacy  and  extravagance 
not  unworthy  the  most  corrupt  times  of  the  Roman  empire. 
The  total  amounts  which  he  drew  from  the  treasury  can 
not  be  ascertained,  but  Colbert  probably  did  not  exagger- 
ate when  he  charged  that  within  a  few  years  Fouquet  squan- 
dered in  his  private  expenses  between  twenty  and  thirty 
millions."  He  received  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
livres  a  year  from  the  farmers  of  the  aides,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  a  year  from  the  farmers  of  the  salt 
tax,  and  shared  in  the  profits  of  all  who  battened  on  the 
treasury,  apart  from  the  amounts  which  he  took  from  it 
directly.  He  bought  the  duchy  of  Penthievre  for  about 
two  millions.  He  spent  enormous  sums  on  his  chateau 
near  Melun,  and  it  was  said  that  he  expended  eight 
millions  at  Vaux.  He  bought  the  island  and  fortress  of 
Belle  Isle.  Some  efforts  at  concealment  were  made  in 
these  acquisitions.  The  duchy  of  Penthievre  was  pur- 
chased in  the  name  of  a  friend.  His  agents  were  instruc- 
ted to  hasten  the  erection  of  his  enormous  buildings, 
during  seasons  when  few  of  the  nobility  were  in  the 
country,  and  to  employ  smaller  bodies  of  men  and  work 
with  more  moderation,  when  they  might  be  observed  by 
those  who  would  report  his  proceedings  at  Court.' 

The  money  which  Fouquet  took  from  the  treasury  was 
squandered  on  women  as  well  as  on  other  luxuries.  While 
his  antechamber  was  filled  with  those  who  were  told  that 
the  superintendent's  duties  required  his  attention,  while  his 
admirers  talked  of  the  hours  of  toil  he  gave  to  the  service 
of  the  state,  he  was  often  beguiling  his  time  with  the  vari- 
ous ladies,  whose  friendship  for  him  was  liberally  paid  fron 

'  Mem.  sur  les  Finances,  Lettres,  etc.,  de  Colbert,  ii.,  28.     Financiers 
was  the  general  title  of  those  who  had  money  dealings  with  the  government. 
*  Ibid.  '  Fouquet  i  Courtois,  Feb.  8,  1657. 


PEACE    OF  THE  PYRENEES.  339 

the  treasury  of  France.  It  was  a  part  of  the  infatuation 
that  marked  Fouquet's  career,  that  he  kept  all  his  let- 
ters. When  he  was  arrested,  these  were  at  once  seized, 
and  among  them  were  found  great  numbers  of  most 
indiscreet  ones  from  female  correspondents  to  this  finan- 
cial Don  Juan,  letters  from  countesses  and  marchion- 
esses and  maids  of  honor,  letters  which  seemed  almost 
to  verify  the  cynical  French  proverb,  that  a  superin- 
tendent of  the  finances  never  found  a  woman  cruel. 
Some  had  been  his  mistresses,  some  had  been  his  spies, 
some  had  been  his  go-betweens,  some  had  only  taken  his 
money  and  given  their  friendship,  but  women  as  well  as 
men  had  united  in  the  worship  of  the  Golden  Calf.  Even 
letters  from  Mme.  de  S^vign6  were  found  among  the  great 
collection.  There  was  nothing  in  them  which  reflected 
on  her  good  name,  for  amid  a  corrupt  court  she  was  al- 
ways discreet,  but  she  was  a  good  friend  of  Fouquet's, 
and,  in  her  correspondence  with  her  daughter,  it  can  be 
seen  how  such  a  career  as  his  excited  no  severe  animad- 
version, even  in  persons  of  Mme.  de  Sevign^'s  character. 
She  was  among  the  many,  who  were  friendly  to  the  super- 
intendent to  the  last,  and  who,  though  they  could  not 
prevent  his  overthrow,  did  what  they  could  to  lessen  his 
punishment. 

Fouquet  tried  to  strengthen  his  position  by  gaining  the 
favor  of  all  who  could  help  him.  Not  only  among  women 
and  contractors,  but  among  all  who  had  any  influence,  the 
money  of  the  treasury  was  freely  spent.  Lionne  was  in 
need,  and  he  came  to  Fouquet  for  assistance  and  received 
it.  The  Duke  of  Rochefoucauld  practised  the  moralityhe 
preached  and  took  10,000  crowns.  Beaufort,  Gramont, 
the  Marquis  of  Gesvres,  judges  of  the  Parliament,  officers 
of  the  army  and  the  navy,  were  on  his  pension  list. 

He  exercised  perhaps  a  more  judicious  liberality  in  what 
he  did  for  artists  and  men  of  letters.  Fouquet  had  the 
fondness  and  the  cultivated  taste  for  literature  and  art, 
which  are  not  unfrequently  united  with  unbounded  cor- 
ruption and  extreme  sensuality.     He  appreciated  and  en- 


340      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

couraged  the  genius  of  Moliere  and  La  Fontaine.  He 
relieved  Corneille  from  the  neglect  he  suffered  at  the 
hands  of  a  public,  which  preferred  the  buffoonery  of  Scar- 
ron.  Saint-Evremond  sent  him  secret  letters  filled  with 
witty  abuse  of  Mazarin's  policy.  Poets  sang  of  Fouquet, 
the  generous  benefactor  of  Parnassus,  their  kind  and 
adorable  master.  Poussin  and  Le  Brun  owed  much  to 
his  liberal  patronage  of  art. 

Such  a  career  could  not  be  free  from  danger,  and  Fouquet 
took  measures  to  defend  himself  against  any  loss  of  favor. 
When  he  was  at  last  overthrown,  he  sought  to  excuse  all 
the  irregularities  discovered  in  his  accounts  by  throwing 
the  blame  on  Mazarin.  Mazarin  was  by  no  means  free 
from  responsibility  for  these  monstrous  abuses.  He 
wanted  large  sums  of  money  in  order  to  prosecute  with 
vigor  the  wars  in  which  France  was  engaged,  and  if  the 
money  was  raised,  he  made  little  inquiry  as  to  i»iw  much 
it  cost  the  country  to  obtain  it.  Though  he  must  have 
known  somewhat  of  Fouquet's  reckless  courses,  he  feared 
to  remove  him,  lest  a  successor  could  not  be  found  who 
would  have  the  same  ability  to  raise  money.  He  was 
friendly  to  the  superintendent  on  account  of  the  services 
he  had  rendered  during  the  Fronde;  he  was  accustomed 
to  corruption  in  the  finances  and  to  seeing  superintend- 
ents and  contractors  become  millionaires,  and  his  own 
transactions  with  the  treasury  were  so  numerous  and 
sometimes  of  so  doubtful  a  character,  that  he  may  not 
have  desired  a  man  of  rigid  views  to  examine  them. 

Mazarin's  greed  for  money  became  stronger  in  the  latter 
years  of  his  life.  In  addition  to  the  pensions,  livings,  and 
governments  which  he  enjoyed,  he  insisted  on  taking 
many  contracts  for  furnishing  provisions  to  the  soldiers 
and  army  supplies  to  the  government.  He  even  furnished 
the  watches  that  were  to  be  given  away  by  the  embassa- 
dors in  Germany.'  It  may  have  been  true,  as  Mazarin 
claimed,  that  he  saved  money  to  the  government  by  these 
measures,  and  that  he  plundered  less  than  other  contract- 

'  Mazarin  4  Colbert,  June  27,  1657. 


I 


PEACE   OF  THE  PYRENEES.  34 1 

ors.'  Colbert  often  advised  him  to  let  such  things  alone, 
and  said  that  he  could  make  more  money  in  other  ways.' 
But  undoubtedly  the  gains  were  large,  and  there  was  some- 
thing pitiful  in  a  prime-minister's  thus  mingling  the  role  of 
a  Richelieu  with  that  of  a  jobber  and  old-clothes  man. 

It  had  the  additional  disadvantage,  that  he  was  made 
dependent  on  a  superintendent,  who  would  not  scrutinize 
his  accounts  closely  and  would  pay  them  promptly.  He 
undoubtedly  received  the  most  liberal  treatment  from 
Fouquet,  and  the  superintendent  gave  him  opportunities 
to  make  snug  advances  to  the  government  at  fifteen  per 
cent,  interest." 

Notwithstanding  this,  as  early  as  1657,  Fouquet  began 
to  fear  that  Mazarin  might  remove  him  from  office. 
He  knew  that  the  cardinal  constantly  gave  more  of  his 
■confidence  to  Colbert,  and  he  recognized  in  Colbert  his 
most  dangerous  enemy.  The  superintendent  was  so  in- 
toxicated by  the  wealth  and  state  that  he  now  enjoyed, 
that  he  dreamed  of  a  renewal  of  the  Fronde,  and  imagined 
that  he  was  powerful  enough  to  resist  the  government  if  his 
overthrow  was  attempted.  He  fortified  the  island  of  Belle 
Isle  with  the  greatest  care,  bought  ships  and  cannon,  and 
endeavored  to  make  of  it  a  place  so  strong,  that  once  there 
he  could  defy  attempts  to  arrest  him.  Among  his  papers 
was  found  a  plan  for  resistance,  in  case  he  was  arrested  or 
an  attempt  was  made  to  bring  him  to  trial.  It  was  first 
prepared  in  1657,  and  stated  that  Mazarin  was  of  a 
jealous  disposition,  inclined  to  listen  to  Fouquet 's  enemies, 
and  forgetful  of  the  past  services  of  those  of  whom  he 
thought  he  had  no  further  need.  In  case,  therefore,  that 
an  attempt  was  made  to  arrest  him,  Calais  was  to  be  held 
by  the  Count  of  Charost  in  the  interests  of  the  superin- 
tendent. Belle  Isle  was  to  be  defended,  and  friends 
elsewhere  were  indicated  who  would  rise  in  revolt.  The 
governors  of  Amiens,  Hesdin,  and  Arras,  he  hoped  would 

'  Mazarin  4  Lionne,  July  21,  1658.     '  Lettres  de  Colbert,  i.,  390^/ /OJ. 
*  Fouquet  i  Mazarin,  Dec.  11,  1659.     Colbert  advised  similar  investments, 
being  zealous  in  his  patron's  interest.     Colbert  i  Mazarin,  Oct.  30,  1653. 


342      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

resist  the  government  in  behalf  of  their  benefactor.  Priva- 
teers must  also  be  sent  out  who  would  ravage  the  French 
merchant  marine.' 

This  paper  was  one  of  those  upon  which  an  accusation 
of  high  treason  was  afterwards  based.  Fouquet's  only  de- 
fence was  that  it  had  not  been  carried  into  effect,  and 
that,  at  all  events,  as  Mazarin,  governed  by  Colbert,  was 
abusing  the  confidence  of  the  king,  to  resist  a  step  insti- 
gated by  him  should  not  be  regarded  as  opposition  to  the 
sovereign. 

Such  had  been  the  reasoning  of  the  Fronde.  The 
manner  in  which  Mazarin  was  spoken  of  in  this  paper  seems 
to  show  that  the  cardinal's  dealings  with  the  treasury  had 
not  been  such  as  to  give  Fouquet  any  hold  upon  him,  or 
make  it  necessary  that  the  latter  should  remain  there.  The 
superintendent's  complaint  was  rather  that  a3  the  cardinal 
had  no  need  of  him  in  the  treasury,  he  forgot  his  services 
in  the  time  of  the  Fronde. 

In  1659  Colbert  began  his  attack,  and  in  October  he 
sent  to  Mazarin  a  long  memoir,  exposing  Fouquet's 
methods  and  his  enormous  prodigality,  and  charging  that 
many  millions  were  stolen  from  the  treasury  yearly.  He 
asked  Mazarin  to  appoint  a  chamber  of  justice,  take  the 
control  of  the  treasury  into  his  own  hands,  stop  the 
reckless  system  of  anticipating  the  revenues,  and  restore 
order  to  the  national  finances.'  Fouquet's  spies  were 
everywhere.  An  officer  of  the  posts  took  this  memoir 
and  sent  it  at  once  to  the  superintendent.  It  was  opened 
and  copied,  and  was  then  allowed  to  be  forwarded  to 
Mazarin.  It  threw  Fouquet  and  his  associates  into  great 
alarm.  It  was  necessary  to  conceal  any  knowledge  of  this 
secret  attack,  but  zealous  friends  impressed  upon  the 
cardinal  that  Colbert  had  become  bitterly  hostile  to 
Fouquet  and  wanted  his  place ;  there  might  have  been 
irregularities  in  some  of  the  methods  used,  but  they  had 

*  This  plan,  which  was  occasionally  modified  as  friends  and  circumstances 
changed,  is  published  in  Lettres,  etc.,  de  Colbert,  t.  ii.,  Int.  20-30. 
'  Lettres  de  Colbert,  vii.,  164-183. 


i 


DEATH  OF  MAZARIN.  343 

been  necessary  from  the  pressing  need  for  money,  and  any 
attempt  at  radical  change  at  this  time,  or  the  removal  of 
Fouquet,  would  make  it  impossible  to  raise  the  money 
which  would  be  instantly  needed  for  the  expenses  of  the 
king's  wedding ;  it  would  be  an  inglorious  ending  to  the 
Peace  of  the  Pyrenees  if  Louis  did  not  have  enough  ready 
money  to  go  and  meet  his  bride. 

Mazarin  insisted  that  no  more  taxes  should  be  farmed, 
unless  they  were  first  submitted  to  him,  and  thus  the 
matter  was  left.  Fouquet  judiciously  saw  to  it  that  the 
farms  for  1660  realized  better  figures  for  the  state,  and 
Mazarin  wrote  expressing  his  gratification  and  compli- 
menting the  superintendent's  ability.'  The  cardinal  was 
in  declining  health  and  busy  with  foreign  politics,  but  still 
Fouquet  felt  his  position  was  not  free  from  danger.  Col- 
bert said,  that  if  Mazarin  had  lived  he  would  soon  have 
removed  Fouquet,  and  this  seems  to  be  probable.*  At  all 
events,  the  superintendent's  spies  haunted  the  chamber  of 
the  sick  minister,  sending  frequent  reports  of  his  condition, 
and  holding  out  encouragement  that  his  end  was  near  at 
hand.  They  endeavored  in  vain  to  penetrate  the  secret 
of  the  long  interviews  of  the  king  with  the  dying  man,  in 
which  it  was  known  that  he  gave  his  final  advice  as  to  the 
policy  which  Louis  should  pursue. 

After  Mazarin's  death  Fouquet  hoped  that  he  might 
succeed  to  his  power.  But  Colbert  had  been  recom- 
mended by  the  cardinal  to  the  confidence  of  Louis,  XIV. 
Six  months  afterwards,  Fouquet  was  suddenly  arrested, 
and  he  atoned,  by  spending  the  remaining  nineteen  years 
of  his  life  in  rigorous  confineme^it,  for  his  splendor  and  his 
corruption  while  in  power.* 

'  Mazarin  4  Fouquet,  Feb.  4  and  14, 1660.     *  Lettres  de  Colbert,  ii.,  32,  33. 

•  The  authorities  for  Fouquet's  career  are  very  full ;  the  most  of  tho^e  of 
importance  have  been  published.  Those  on  which  I  have  relied  are  chiefly 
found  in  Lettres,  Instructions,  etc.,  de  Colbert,  t.  i.,  ii.,  and  vii.  Journal  d' 
Ormesson,  t.  ii. ;  Letters  and  other  papers  published  in  Cheruel's  "  Memoires 
sur  Fouquet "  *,  the  Mss.  papers  at  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  ;  and  the  volum- 
inous papers  published,  containing  the  evidence  and  proceedings  of  the  trial. 
Some  valuable,  although  not  very  exact,  information  is  found  in  Memoires 
de  Gourville. 


344      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

The  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees  left  France  triumphant 
abroad,  and  Mazarin  triumphant  at  home.  If  his  enemies 
abused  him  in  private,  they  no  longer  raised  their  voices 
in  public  against  the  all-powerful  minister.  Internal  dis- 
sension seemed  to  have  ceased,  and  even  the  Prince  of 
Cond^  had  at  last  been  tamed.  The  process  had  occupied 
almost  twenty  years,  but  it  had  been  accomplished.  The 
prince  made  a  formal  apology  to  the  king  for  his  past  mis- 
conduct, and  he  wrote  Mazarin  asking  the  cardinal  to  be- 
lieve him  his  faithful  servant,  and  to  grant  him  his  affec- 
tion.' He  accompanied  Louis  in  the  frequent  visits  that 
were  made  to  the  minister  during  his  long  illness  ;  he  visited 
the  Louvre  assiduously,  and  he  became  a  zealous  and  sub- 
missive courtier."  The  only  rebel  that  was  still  left  against 
the  authority  of  Mazarin  and  Louis  XIV.  was  a  vagrant 
archbishop. 

There  were  many  important  political  questions  which 
Mazarin  had  not  attempted  to  regulate  at  the  Island  of 
the  Pheasants,  and  he  now  gave  his  attention  to  restoring 
peace  to  other  lands.  The  influence  of  France  was  such 
that  she  took  a  great  part  in  every  important  negotiation 
in  Europe.  Her  envoys  were  treating  by  the  Baltic  for 
peace  between  Sweden,  Poland,  and  the  powers  of  the 
North  ;  her  ships  were  sailing  to  aid  the  Venetians  in  their 
contest  with  the  Great  Turk.  Portugal,  Lorraine,  Eng- 
land, every  nation  or  prince  involved  in  war  or  embarrass- 
ment, sought  from  France  assistance  or  relief,  and  this 
vast  field  of  negotiations,  which  involved  the  interests  of 
almost  every  European  power,  was  directed  by  Mazarin 
with  industry,  with  sagacity,  and  with  an  unfailing  zeal 
for  the  country  of  his  adoption.  He  could  justly  say  that 
if  his  speech  was  not  French,  his  heart  was.* 

'  Conde  i  Mazarin,  Dec.  24,  1659,  printed  in  Lenet. 

•  Mem.  de  Tarente,  236. 

'  Mazarin  i  Servien,  Aff.  Etr.  Ang.,  59.  That  Mazarin  himself  felt 
convinced  that  he  was  a  valuable  servant  to  France,  and  was  willing  to 
leave  his  conduct  to  the  judgment  of  posterity,  appears  in  many  private 
memoranda.  "  Whatever  misfortune  befalls  me,"  he  wrote  a  very  intimate 
friend,  in  1651,  "  history  will  tell  only  what  is  good  of  me,  if  it  tells  the 
truth," 


DEATH  OF  MAZARIN.  345 

Mazarin  was  anxious  to  terminate  the  war  which  for 
some  years  had  raged  in  the  north  of  Europe,  but  the  un- 
governable ambition  of  Charles  Gustavus  had  declined 
terms  of  peace.  Poland,  Denmark,  Brandenburg,  and 
even  Austria  had  all  become  involved  in  the  wars  excited 
by  Sweden,  and  it  seemed  possible  that  under  the  pro- 
visions of  the  treaty  of  Westphalia,  France  might  be 
obliged  to  interfere  and  protect  the  Swedes  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Pomerania.  If  this  became  necessary,  Mazarin 
said  France  would  furnish  not  only  money,  but  a  power- 
ful army  for  the  support  of  her  former  ally,  but  he  sought 
to  avoid  this  and  bring  Sweden  to  accept  reasonable  terms 
of  peace.  The  death  of  Charles  Gustavus  rendered  this 
more  easy.  Treaties  were  made  between  Sweden,  Den- 
mark, Poland,  and  Brandenburg,  by  which  all  of  them 
were  left  in  nearly  the  same  condition  as  when  they 
had  begun  their  wars.  The  execution  of  most  of  these 
treaties  was  guaranteed  by  Louis  XIV.,  and  it  was  for- 
mally declared  that  by  his  intervention  peace  had  been 
restored.' 

Even  the  relations  of  Poland  and  Russia  received 
Mazarin's  care,  and  a  few  months  after  his  death  the 
treaty  of  peace  was  made  between  them  for  which  he  had 
labored.  Venice  had  long  been  promised  aid  in  her  war 
with  Turkey,  when  France  should  be  free  from  other  com- 
plications, and  in  1660  a  small  fleet  sailed  from  Toulon 
to  the  assistance  of  the  Venetians  in  Candia.  It  was 
commanded  by  a  prince  of  Modena,  but  he  died  during 
the  expedition,  and  its  results  were  not  important. 

Duke  Charles  of  Lorraine  having  tormented  Don  Luis 
de  Haro,  without  obtaining  any  thing  further  from  Spain, 
now  supplicated  the  French  Court  to  grant  him  better 
terms.  He  proceeded  in  his  negotiations  with  the  same 
fertility  of  devices  in  which  he  had  indulged  before  his 
five  years'  imprisonment.  Though  he  was  well  stricken 
in  years,  and  well  provided  with  those  who  claimed  to  be 
his  wives,  he  suggested  to  Mazarin  that  he  would  like  to 

'  Dumont,  Corps  Dip.,  t.  vi.,  2d  part,  304,  et  seq. 


346      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

marry  one  of  his  nieces,  and  would  also  like  to  have  the 
Duchy  of  Bar  restored  to  him.  The  cardinal  replied 
that  the  duke  was  mistaken  in  supposing  that  he  made 
alliances  for  his  nieces  at  the  expense  of  the  interests  of 
France.'  But  many  members  of  the  House  of  Lorraine 
had  become  influential  members  of  the  French  aristocracy. 
They  gained  some  favors  for  their  kinsman,  and  in  Febru- 
ary, 1 66 1,  a  new  treaty  restored  Bar  to  Lorraine.  But  it 
was  to  be  held  as  a  fief  of  the  French  crown.  The  fortifi- 
cations of  Nancy  were  to  be  destroyed,  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  duchy  was  annexed  to  France,  and  Lor- 
raine was  to  be  open  for  the  passage  of  troops  to  Alsace. 
On  such  terms  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  was  restored  to  what 
remained  of  his  ancient  possessions. 

France  took  no  part  in  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts, 
though  the  return  of  Charles  IL  to  power  was  viewed 
with  favor,  and  was  justly  regarded  as  a  political  change 
which  would  be  advantageous  to  the  interests  of  Louis 
XIV.  An  alliance  between  Charles  and  one  of  Mazarin's 
nieces  had  been  suggested  as  a  means  of  obtaining  the 
cardinal's  support,  but  without  success.  After  he  was 
restored  to  the  throne,  his  mother,  Henriette  Marie  of 
France,  still  favored  such  a  marriage,  if  the  cardinal  would: 
make  the  king  heir  to  the  bulk  of  his  fortune.  The  plan 
was  not  agreeable  to  Charles,  and  it  was  presently  dropped,, 
but  Mazarin  gave  secret  assistance  to  the  negotiations  for 
a  marriage  of  the  king  with  Catharine  of  Portugal.  Such 
an  alliance  was  viewed  with  apprehension  by  the  Spanish, 
and  to  assist  its  accomplishment  was  hardly  consistent 
with  the  secret  article  by  which  France  agreed  to  give  no 
further  aid  to  Portugal.  That  agreement  did  not,  how- 
ever, interfere  with  the  course  which  France  pursued,  nor 
with  her  subsequently  doing  still  more  for  her  former  ally.. 
Treaties  were  viewed  with  as  much  indifference  in  the 
seventeenth  as  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Louis  XIV. 
wrote  afterwards  of  these  negotiations,  that  he  saw  that 
the  Portuguese,  deprived  of  his  assistance^  could  not  resist 

'  Mazarin  4  Lorraine,  July  4,  1660. 


DEATH  OF  MAZARIN.  347 

the  House  of  Austria,  and  having  some  scruples  about 
assisting  them  openly,  on  account  of  the  Peace  of  the 
Pyrenees,  he  wished  to  lend  his  aid  under  the  name  of  the 
king  of  England.  "  Not  but  that  I  know  well,"  he  adds, 
"  that  treaties  are  not  always  observed  to  the  letter,  and 
that  the  interests  of  crowns  are  such  that  the  princes  who- 
are  charged  with  them  are  not  always  at  liberty  to  bind 
themselves  to  their  prejudice."  ' 

Mazarin's  health  had  been  infirm  for  some  time  and  it 
now  began  to  fail  rapidly.  His  constitution  was  naturally 
good  and  he  was  only  fifty-nine  years  of  age,  but  the 
enormous  amount  of  work  which  he  did  was  thought  to- 
have  impaired  his  vigor,  and  the  long  stay  at  the  Isle  of 
Pheasants,  during  the  hot  weather  of  1659,  had  perhaps 
increased  the  maladies  from  which  he  suffered."  The  con- 
dition of  his  health  had  not  interfered  with  his  diplomatic 
work  in  1660,  and  among  other  diversions  for  his  suffer- 
ings, Moli^re's  Pr6cieuses  Ridicules  was  acted  before  him  in 
his  chamber.'  But  early  in  1661  his  condition  grew  rap- 
idly worse,  and  his  physicians  advised  him  that  his  end 
was  near.  The  cardinal  had  been  fond  of  the  things  of 
this  world,  of  its  pleasures  as  well  as  its  power,  but 
even  his  enemies  admitted  that  he  met  death  with  extra- 
ordinary calmness.* 

He  gave,  at  much  length,  his  last  counsels  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  Louis  XIV.  He  advised  the  king  to  take 
upon  himself  the  chief  direction  of  his  affairs,  to  limit 
the  Parliament  to  the  administration  of  justice,  and  to 
reduce  the  taille  and  other  impositions,  so  far  as  the 
necessary  expenses  of  the  government  would  allow.  He 
advised  Louis  also  to  avail  himself  of  Colbert's  services  in 

*  Mdtn.  de  Louis  XIV.  ii.,  406-8.  •  Bussy  Rabutin,  ii.,  107. 

*  Loret,  Oct.,  1660. 

*  Bussy  Rabutin,  ii.,  107  ;  M^m  de  Tarente  ;  Motteville,  503.  I  attach- 
no  importance  to  the  statement  of  the  younger  Brienne,  that  he  heard 
Mazarin  walking  among  his  pictures  and  statuary  and  lamenting  that  he 
must  leave  all  these  and  that  he  should  see  them  no  more  where  he  was 
going.  The  younger  Brienne  prepared  his  reminiscences  in  a  mad-house,. 
and  they  show  marks  of  a  fervid  imagination. 


348      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

the  finances  of  France,  and  to  exercise  a  careful  control 
over  the  operations  of  Fouquet.' 

Mazarin  had  never  shown  a  strong  religious  character, 
but  at  the  end  he  manifested  an  apparent  and  probably  a 
sincere  devotion.  His  nature  was  not  one  to  be  deeply- 
affected  by  the  conception  of  religious  truth,  but  neither 
was  it  one  that  would  indulge  in  sceptical  doubts  as  to  the 
ordinarily  accepted  belief.  He  received  the  extreme  unc- 
tion with  contrition,  and  died  professing  a  firm  religious 
confidence. 

Cardinal  Mazarin  died  on  March  9,  1661.  For  eighteen 
years  he  had  been  the  ruler  of  the  kingdom,  and  his  ad- 
ministration had  been  of  the  same  duration  as  that  of 
Richelieu.  He  had  done  much  for  the  power  and  glory  of 
France  and  little  for  the  happiness  of  her  people. 

His  loss  was  sincerely  regretted  by  Louis  XIV.,  and  the 
king,  when  he  began  acting  as  his  own  chief  minister,  fol- 
lowed implicitly  the  instructions  which  he  had  received 
from  Mazarin. 

The  cardinal  on  his  death-bed  offered  to  leave  his  for- 
tune to  the  king.  The  offer  was,  perhaps,  prompted  by 
the  feeling  that  it  had  largely  been  accumulated  at  the 
expense  of  the  royal  treasury,  but  Mazarin  may  have  been 
willing  also  to  have  his  last  act  appear  as  an  extraordinary 
and  magnificent  donation  to  the  country  he  had  ruled.' 
It  was  declined,  as  Mazarin  probably  expected  that  it  would 
be.  The  amount  of  the  fortune  he  left  was  not  known, 
and  an  inventory  was  forbidden,  but  it  was  estimated  at 
30,000,000  livres,  a  sum  which  in  purchasing  power  would 
represent  twenty-five  or  thirty  million  dollars  now.  These 
figures  are  probably  somewhat  exaggerated.  The  most 
authentic  figures  as  to  his  fortune  are  in  a  statement  pre- 
pared by  Colbert  in  1658.  They  show  that  at  that  time 
it  was  somewhat  less  than  8,000,000  livres.   His  income,  in- 

'  Mazarin's  advice,  except  in  reference  to  Colbert  and  Fouquet,  was  re- 
duced to  writing  under  the  king's  own  dictation.     Let.  de  Colbert,  i.,  535, 

536;  ii-.  33. 

'  Such  is  not  the  account  given  by  the  Abbe  of  Choisi,  but  the  Abba's 
statements  do  not  by  any  means  imply  absolute  verity. 


DEA  TH  OF  MAZARIN.  349 

eluding  his  pensions  and  livings,  was  about  800,000  livres.' 
This  estimate  did  not  include  his  collections  of  art,  his 
jewels,  or  the  offices  or  governments  which  he  held,  and 
which  passed  to  his  heirs.  His  fortune,  also,  was  largely- 
increased  after  1658,  but  it  was  probably  overestimated. 
Whatever  its  size,  it  was  an  enormous  one  to  have  ac- 
cumulated in  the  public  service,  and  is  a  stain  upon 
Mazarin's  memory.  He  might  have  urged  in  mitigation 
of  the  offence,  that  he  lived  in  a  period  of  almost  uni- 
versal public  corruption,  and  that  it  was  not  his  greed, 
but  his  opportunity,  which  exceeded  that  of  most  of  his 
contemporaries. 

He  gave  donations  to  some  charities  and  friends.  He 
ratified  the  provisions  he  had  already  made  for  the  erec- 
tion and  endowment  of  the  College  of  Four  Nations  for 
scholars  from  Roussillon,  Artois,  Alsace,  and  Piedmont. 
But  nearly  the  whole  of  his  fortune  was  given  to  his  fam- 
ily. His  nephew  had  the  Duchy  of  Nevers,  his  nieces 
each  received  600,000  livres  or  more,  and  the  bulk  of  his 
estate  was  given  to  the  husband  of  Hortense  Mancini, 
who  took  the  title  of  Duke  of  Mazarin  and  was  selected 
as  the  cardinal's  heir.' 

The  family  of  Mazarin  were  so  involved,  not  only  with 
his  own  fortunes,  but  with  the  political  history  of  the  time, 
that  something  may  properly  be  said  about  their  varied 
careers.*  The  two  nephews  on  whom  Mazarin  had  built 
his  hopes  died  young,  and  the  third  was  not  a  favorite  of 
his  uncle.  He  had  little  application  and  no  ambition,  and 
his  only  passions  were  an  immoderate  fondness  for  travel 
and  a  strong  taste  for  rhymes.  A  wandering  poet  was 
not  what  the  cardinal  desired  for  the  inheritor  of  his  name, 
and  Philip  Mancini  was  not  made  his  heir.  As  he  was 
left  the  Duchy  of  Nevers,  which  was  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  in  France,  a  palace  in  Rome,  and  part  of  Maz- 

*  This  paper  was  prepared  in  Colbert's  own  handwriting.  It  is  published 
in  Lettres  de  Colbert,  i.,  520-530.  Saint  Simon  says  Mazarin  left  60,000,000 
livres. 

•  The  will  is  printed  in  CEuvres  de  Louis  XIV.,  vi.,  292-345. 

*A11  the  facts  about  Mazarin's  family  are  collected  in  M.  Rente's  enter- 
taining book,  "  Les  Nieces  de  Mazarin." 


350       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

arin's  palace  and  collections  in  Paris,  his  condition  was  not 
as  bad  as  that  of  most  disinherited  nephews.  Free  from 
the  ambitious  and  violent  passions  of  his  sisters,  the  Duke 
of  Nevers  travelled  a  large  part  of  his  life,  turned  off 
poetry  of  no  great  value,  disturbed  no  one,  and  derived, 
perhaps,  more  enjoyment  from  his  fortune  than  any  other 
of  those  who  shared  in  Mazarin's  wealth. 

Philip's  two  cousins,  the  Martinozzi,  filled  with  dignity 
and  virtue  the  positions  that  were  selected  for  them.  One 
of  them  was  married  to  Conti,  and  though  the  prince  had 
shown  little  interest  in  the  question  of  which  niece  he  should 
obtain,  he  seems  to  have  lived  very  amicably  with  the 
one  that  was  allotted  to  him.  His  wife  had  been  selected 
for  the  Duke  of  Candale,  and  as  the  duke  was  the  delight 
of  all  eyes,  and  the  prince  had  more  rank  than  beauty,  she 
was  not  desirous  for  the  change.  But  the  cardinal  did  not 
consult  his  nieces  as  to  the  political  combinations  of 
which  their  marriages  were  parts,  and  the  Princess  of  Conti 
accepted  the  husband  awarded  her  with  a  good  grace.  She 
developed  a  strong  religious  character,  sold  her  jewels  in  a 
time  of  famine  and  gave  the  proceeds  to  the  poor,  and 
succeeded  in  making  a  saint  of  her  husband.  He  died 
young,  and  his  widow  devoted  her  life  to  religion,  and 
was  closely  united  with  Mme.  de  Longueville  in  a  common 
zeal  for  the  Port  Royal. 

Her  sister,  Laura  Martinozzi,  filled  a  still  more  dignified 
position.  Married  to  the  Duke  of  Modena,  his  death 
left  her,  when  still  a  young  woman,  the  regent  of  that 
duchy.  For  twelve  years  she  governed  this  little  state 
with  a  good  judgment  worthy  of  her  uncle.  Her  rule  was 
a  mild  one.  Her  subjects  enjoyed  tranquillity  and  were 
treated  with  justice.  But  the  niece  of  Mazarin  was 
statesmanlike  as  well  as  peaceable.  She  was  always  firm 
in  her  alliance  with  France,  furnished  her  contingent  to 
the  expedition  which  Louis  XIV.  sent  to  Candia,  and  even 
started  a  little  war  of  her  own  against  the  Duchess  of 
Mantua,  who  was  endeavoring  to  seize  some  small  islands 
in  the  Po  that  were  claimed  as  the  property  of  Modena. 


DEATH  OF  MAZARIN.  35 1 

The  Spanish  government  quieted  the  strife  of  the  warring 
duchesses.  The  daughter  of  the  Duchess  of  Modena  be- 
came the  second  wife  of  the  Duke  of  York,  and  the  blood 
of  the  Mazarins  flowed  in  the  veins  of  the  Stuart  preten- 
ders to  the  English  crown.  The  mother  saw  her  daughter 
a  queen,  and  was  spared  the  pain  of  seeing  her  an  exile. 

The  oldest  of  the  Mancini  was  a  character  as  estimable 
as  her  cousins.  The  Duke  of  Mercoeur,  who  bore  little 
resemblance  to  his  turbulent  father  and  his  equally  turbu- 
lent sons,  seems  to  have  desired  Laura  Mancini  for  his 
wife,  whatever  her  uncle's  fate  might  be,  and  he  gallantly- 
kept  his  plighted  word  and  married  her  when  the  cardinal 
was  in  exile.  The  abundant  honors  he  enjoyed  after 
Mazarin's  return  showed  that  he  made  no  mistake  even 
from  a  worldly  standpoint,  and  his  wife  herself  proved  all 
that  he  hoped.  But  she  died  young,  and  her  husband,  in 
his  bereavement,  abandoned  the  worldly  prosperity  he 
had  gained.  He  became  a  priest,  discharged  his  religious 
duties  with  zeal  and  piety,  and  before  his  death  was  made 
a  cardinal. 

The  younger  Mancini  had  wilder  blood  in  their  veins, 
and  their  charms,  their  adventures,  and  their  vices  made 
them  known  over  Europe.  Olympe  was  the  playmate 
and  friend  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  the  courtiers  said  that 
she  might  find  herself  on  the  throne  of  France.  Such 
was  not  her  fortune,  but  she  was  married  to  a  prince  of 
the  House  of  Savoy,  and  became  the  Countess  of  Soissons. 
Louis  continued  his  friendship  after  her  marriage,  and  the 
Hotel  of  Soissons  was  one  of  the  centres  of  the  gayeties 
of  the  Court,  but  its  pleasures  were  by  no  means  entirely 
innocent.  The  countess  was  fond  of  Court  intrigues  and 
love  intrigues,  and  her  husband  was  thought  to  show  a 
childlike  confidence,  in  the  extreme  affability  with  which  he 
treated  all  of  his  wife's  friends.  The  count  died,  and  Olympe 
became  involved  in  the  charges  of  poisoning  that  grew 
out  of  the  affair  of  La  Voisin.  It  was  said,  perhaps  with 
more  truth,  that  she  had  a  taste  for  magic  and  necroman- 
cers, and  had  consulted  one  of  these  as  to  the  means  for 


352       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARfN. 

regaining  the  affection  of  a  great  prince,  who,  perhaps, 
was  Louis  himself.  At  all  events,  she  claimed  that 
Louvois  and  other  powerful  enemies  were  resolved  to  ruin 
her,  and  she  fled  from  France.  Such  charges  were  be- 
lieved by  the  vulgar,  and  at  many  of  the  places  through 
which  she  passed,  the  people  hooted  at  the  poisoner  and 
sorceress.  Louis  XIV.  became  hostile  to  his  old  playmate, 
and  she  was  never  allowed  to  return  to  France.  She 
wandered  about  Spain  and  the  Low  Countries,  and  died 
after  almost  thirty  years  of  exile  and  disgrace.  One  of 
her  sons  was  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy.  He  inherited  the 
talents  of  his  mother's  family,  as  well  as  the  warlike  quali- 
ties of  the  House  of  Savoy,  and  when  he  won  the  victories 
that  crippled  the  power  and  humiliated  the  pride  of  Louis 
XIV.,  his  mother  may  have  felt  that  she  was  avenged  on 
France  and  its  king. 

The  next  sister  was  Marie  Mancini,  whom  Louis  XIV. 
wished  to  marry,  and  who  came  so  near  to  being  the  queen 
of  France.  The  precepts  of  Seneca,  which  her  uncle 
recommended  for  her  disappointment,  did  not  entirely 
govern  her  future  life,  and  she  had  an  extraordinary  and 
reckless  career.  Mazarin  insisted  on  marrying  her  to  the 
Constable  Colonna,  though  she  protested  bitterly  against 
being  sent  away  from  France.  The  cardinal  seems  to 
have  been  specially  severe  towards  this  niece,  who  dared 
to  thwart  his  desires,  and  endeavored  to  prevent  the  Peace 
of  the  Pyrenees.  Fearful  that  she  might  disobey  his  wish, 
the  only  provision  he  left  her  by  his  will  was  the  dowry 
she  was  to  have  on  marrying  Colonna.  To  Rome,  there- 
fore, she  was  obliged  to  go,  and  become  the  wife  of  this 
Italian  nobleman.  It  is  said  that  when  her  husband 
showed  her  his  palace,  he  pointed  out  a  room  as  the 
chamber  of  her  grandfather,  when  he  was  inaitre  de 
chambre  for  his  grandfather.  Marie  replied  that  she 
did  not  know  about  her  grandfather,  but  she  knew  well 
that  she  had  made  the  poorest  match  of  any  of  her  sisters. 

Even  if  the  constable  was  thus  discourteous  at  the 
beginning,  he  and  his  wife  for  some  years  lived  in  amity» 


DEATH  OF  MAZARIN.  353 

In  her  palace,  unlike  the  grave  decorum  which  prevailed 
in  most  Italian  palaces,  there  were  always  comedies, 
dancing,  gambling,  and  all  the  pleasures  of  Paris.  But 
she  was  little  fitted  for  domestic  life.  Some  of  her  con- 
duct was  reckless  and  some  was  scandalous.  Colonna 
became  jealous  of  his  wife,  and  the  wife  became  weary  of 
Colonna.  One  day  she  and  her  sister  disguised  them- 
selves as  men,  fled  from  Rome,  and  sailed  in  a  little  boat 
from  Civita  Vecchia,  hotly  pursued  by  the  constable's 
galleys  and  by  some  Turkish  corsairs.  Marie  would  have 
regarded  capture  by  the  Turks  as  the  lesser  evil,  but  she 
escaped  both.  Once  in  France  she  made  her  way  to  Paris, 
but  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  no  more  embarrassing  a  neigh- 
bor to  Louis  XIV.  than  one  of  the  Mancini,  and  the  king 
ordered  her  sent  away.  She  was  imprisoned  for  a  while 
in  the  Low  Countries,  and  then  rejoined  her  husband  in 
Spain,  where  he  treated  her  with  no  greater  severity  than 
occasionally  shutting  her  up  in  a  convent.  With  beauty 
and  wit,  but  no  common-sense,  Marie  found  life  grow 
harder  for  her,  and  before  her  death  her  existence  had 
become  very  obscure.  It  was  certainly  not  happy,  and 
probably  not  edifying. 

Next  to  Marie  came  Hortense  Mancini,  who  was  thought 
the  most  beautiful  of  the  family.  Her  uncle  was  fond  of 
her,  and  decided  to  choose  a  husband  for  her  who  should 
inherit  the  most  of  his  fortune.  There  were  many  sui- 
tors for  such  a  bride.  Charles  II.  wanted  to  marry  her 
before  he  was  restored,  and  his  mother  wanted  him  to 
marry  her  after  he  was  restored.  The  brother  of  the 
King  of  Portugal,  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy  were  among  the 
great  alliances  that  were  suggested.  But  Mazarin  was 
inclined  to  choose  some  French  nobleman  who  would 
assume  and  perpetuate  his  name.  He  thought  of  the 
Marshal  of  Turenne,  but  Turenne  had  an  illustrious  name 
which  he  would  not  abandon,  and  he  had  fifty  years,  which 
the  young  Hortense  did  not  wish  to  accept.  There  was 
some  suggestion  of  the  last  scion  of  the  Courtenays,  who 
Wcis  of  the  blood  of  the  Capets,  whose  ancestors  had  sat 


354       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

on  the  throne  of  Constantinople,  and  who  had  the  longest 
pedigree  and  the  shortest  purse  of  any  nobleman  in 
France.  But  notwithstanding  so  illustrious  a  lineage,  it 
was  decided  that  he  was  too  impecunious  to  receive  the 
richest  bride  in  Europe. 

After  much  consideration,  Mazarin  made  the  most  un- 
fortunate choice  that  was  possible.  He  selected  the 
young  La  Meilleraie,  whose  father  was  a  duke,  and  a  man 
of  large  wealth,  and  who,  though  of  no  ancient  lineage,  was 
a  kinsman  of  Richelieu.  Perhaps,  the  last  circumstance 
decided  the  choice.  La  Meilleraie  obtained  the  bride, 
who  was  beautiful,  and  the  fortune,  which  was  immense, 
and  he  took  the  title  of  the  Duke  of  Mazarin.  Very 
soon  after  the  cardinal's  death,  the  duke  began  to  display 
his  eccentricities.  He  was  afflicted  with  a  species  of  religious 
insanity  which  showed  itself,  among  other  ways,  in  a  mod- 
esty of  unusual  rigor.  The  great  collection  of  statuary  and 
paintings,  of  which  he  had  become  the  owner,  shocked  his 
views,  and  armed  with  a  hammer  he  went  through  the 
galleries,  demolishing  the  statues  that  offended  him  by  an 
improper  nudity,  while  Titians  and  Corregios  were  smeared 
over,  wherever  the  dress  of  the  beauties,  or  the  Magdalens, 
which  the  masters  had  painted,  was  not  such  as  would  be 
appropriate  at  a  prayer  meeting.  Colbert  succeeded  in 
checking  this  destruction,  but  the  collection  suffered 
severely  from  the  piety  of  its  owner.  He  was  equally 
strict  with  the  creatures  of  flesh  and  blood.  He  went 
about  the  villages,  seeking  to  teach  the  country  girls  to 
adopt  positions  while  churning  or  spinning  which  should 
always  be  severely  modest. 

Hortense  suffered  frorh  such  vagaries  and  frorh  many 
others.  Her  husband  saw  visions  and  dreamed  dreams. 
They  all  suggested  some  new  way  to  make  life  dis- 
agreeable for  his  wife.  Often  she  rushed  into  the  streets  in 
tears,  displaying  the  family  skeletons  to  the  public,  and  at 
last  she  took  refuge  with  her  brother.  The  duke  went  to 
law  to  recover  possession  of  his  wife.  A  taste  for  lawsuits 
was  another  of  his  peculiarities.    He  was  said  to  have  had 


DEATH  OF  MAZARIN.  355 

three  hundred,  and  to  have  lost  almost  all.  He  succeeded 
in  seriously  impairing  his  fortune  by  his  interminable  litiga- 
Llv^ns,  and  thus,  it  has  been  said,  the  Fronde  at  last  had  its 
revenge  on  Mazarin,  and  the  wealth  of  the  cardinal  was 
scattered  among  the  judges  and  lawyers  of  the  Parliament. 
Hortense  feared  so  resolute  a  litigant.  She  disguised  herself 
as  a  man  and  galloped  through  France,  until  she  found 
safety  in  Lorraine.  There  she  enjoyed  the  favor  of  its 
duke,  but  presently  she  wandered  to  Rome  and  joined  her 
sister  Marie,  when  she  also  fled  from  her  husband.  At  last 
Hortense  chose  London  for  her  home,  and  after  having 
refused  Charles  H.  for  a  husband  she  accepted  him  as  a 
lover.  She  received  a  pension  from  the  king.  Her  hus- 
band, who  had  gained  much  legal  knowledge,  sent  for- 
mal notice  that  his  wife's  receipts  would  be  of  no  legal 
validity,  but  Charles  replied  that  as  he  never  took  any 
receipts,  that  was  of  little  importance.  Her  life  at  the  Eng- 
lish Court  was  galling  to  the  Duke  of  Mazarin,  and  he  was 
restless  at  being  deprived  of  a  lawsuit.  "If  she  has  an 
ounce  of  courage,"  he  said,  "  let  her  return  and  dispute  the 
matter  with  me  in  the  courts."  The  duke  made  many  en- 
deavors to  induce  his  wife  to  come  back  to  the  pious  home 
she  had  left,  but  her  answer  to  all  overtures  was  the 
watchword  of  the  Fronde — "  No  Mazarin." 

The  favorite  niece  and  the  heiress  of  Mazarin  died  a 
wanderer  in  England  in  1699. 

Marie  Anne  Mancini,  the  last  of  the  nieces,  led  a  less 
turbulent  life.  She  was  married  to  the  Duke  of  Bouillon, 
a  nephew  of  Turenne's.  He  was  fond  of  hunting  and  she 
was  fond  of  society  ;  he  chased  deer  and  wolves,  and  at 
last  went  .off  to  fight  the  Turks  ;  she  was  devoted  to 
balls,  ballets,  conversations,  and  intrigues ;  they  saw 
little  of  each  other,  and  lived  in  entire  amity.  The 
duchess  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  party  which  en- 
deavored to  crush  Racine,  and  when  the  PJudrc  was 
represented  she  spent  15,000  livres  hiring  men  to  hiss. 
Racine  triumphed  over  his  adversaries,  and  the  com- 
bat was  abandoned.     The  duchess  had  several  sons  who 


356      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

all  showed  a  valor  in  the  field  worthy  of  their  ancestry. 
But  most  of  the  families  with  which  the  blood  of  the 
Mazarins  was  mingled  became  extinct  in  a  few  generations. 
Such  was  the  fate  of  the  Stuarts,  the  Vend6mes,  the 
Estes,  the  Contis,  the  Soissons,  and  the  Bouillons. 
Fortune,  which  so  steadily  favored  the  Cardinal  Mazarin, 
was  less  constant  to  the  family  for  which  he  had  labored 
to  prepare  so  brilliant  a  destiny. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND   THE   CONDITION   OF  THE 
PEOPLE. 

The  nature  of  the  French  government  at  this  period 
has,  to  some  extent,  been  shown.  For  nearly  forty  years, 
two  successive  chief  ministers  exercised  an  almost  abso- 
lute authority.  No  session  of  the  States-General  inter- 
fered with  it,  and  the  endeavors  of  the  Parliament  to 
restrain  and  annul  the  edicts  of  the  king,  in  whose  name 
the  chief  minister  acted,  proved  unsuccessful. 

Another  institution  possessed  much  dignity  but  little 
power,  and  that  was  the  council  of  the  king.  Under  dif- 
ferent forms  the  king's  council  is  found  during  the  whole 
history  of  the  French  monarchy,  consisting  of  nobles  and 
great  dignitaries,  who,  as  the  king's  advisers,  would  natu- 
rally exercise  much  authority  in  matters  to  which  he  would 
not  give  his  personal  attention.  Louis  XIII.  by  his 
last  edict  had  endeavored  to  establish  a  council  to  which 
the  government  of  the  country  should  be  entrusted  dur- 
ing his  son's  minority.  But  such  an  effort  was  claimed  to 
be  contrary  to  the  institutions  of  the  kingdom,  and  the 
royal  council,  under  whatever  shape  it  was  organized,  was 
never  a  body  of  importance  in  the  state. 

Neither  a  king  nor  a  chief  minister  could,  however,  con- 
trol all  the  details  of  the  government,  and  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  a  great  power  was  exercised  by  a  few 
officials,  whose  positions  had  formerly  been  of  small  im- 
portance. Four  secretaries,  among  the  large  number  of 
those  who  wrote  for  the  king,  had  been  charged  with  the 
correspondence  for  public  affairs,  and  were  called  Secre- 


358       FRANCE  UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

taries  of  State.'  Their  authority  gradually  increased, 
until  each  of  them  had  charge  of  all  correspondence  with 
one  quarter  of  the  provinces  of  France,  and  with  one 
fourth  of  the  foreign  nations  with  which  France  had  rela- 
tions. By  a  more  orderly  division  of  their  duties  under 
Richelieu,  one  of  these  secretaries  had  assigned  to  him  the 
affairs  of  war,  a  second  those  of  the  marine,  a  third  took 
charge  of  foreign  affairs,  and  a  fourth,  of  the  private  estate 
of  the  king  and  matters  of  the  church.  The  four  Secre- 
taries of  State  became,  with  the  Chancellor  and  Superin- 
tendent of  Finances,  the  most  important  officers  in  the 
kingdom."  In  1643  Guen^gaud  paid  the  Count  of  Brienne 
750,000  livres  for  his  position  as  Secretary  of  State,  the 
equivalent  of  nearly  a  million  dollars  novv.^  The  king 
could  remove  a  secretary  from  the  exercise  of  his  duties, 
and  only  by  his  consent  could  a  new  secretary  acquire  the 
position,  but  like  almost  all  other  offices,  its  holder  had 
paid  for  it,  and  only  on  receiving  just  compensation  could 
he  be  required  to  surrender  his  title. 

The  office  of  the  Superintendent  of  Finance  was  of 
still  more  importance,  and  the  control  he  had  over  the 
revenues,  together  with  the  confusion  that  existed  in 
them,  gave  him  an  opportunity  for  acquiring  great 
wealth.  La  Vieuville,  who  was  removed  by  Richelieu, 
gained  a  large  fortune  by  corrupt  practices.  Bullion,, 
who  was  superintendent  under  the  cardinal,  left  a  prop- 
erty, the  income  of  which  was  500,000  livres.*  Emeri's 
conduct  in  the  office  made  him  the  most  hated  man  in 
France,  and  abuses,  carelessness,  and  corruption  were  car- 
ried to  the  greatest  extertt  by  Fouquet.  No  budget  of 
the  receipts  or  expenses  of  the  government  was  prepared. 
The  superintendent  rendered  no  account.  The  condition 
of  the  finances  was  not  only  kept  secret  from  the  people, 
but  it  was  impossible,  even  for  those  who  had  charge  of 

'  The  number  of  the  royal  secretaries  increased,  until  while  there  were 
three  under  St.  Louis,  there  were  245  at  the  time  of  Colbert, 

•  Fauvelet  du  Toe:  "  Histoire  des  Secretaires  d'etat."  1678.  Caillet : 
*'  L'  Administration  sous  Richelieu,"  chapter  2. 

•Journal  d'Ormesson,  i.,  9.     *  Lettre  d'Amault  4  Barillon,  Dec.  26,  1640. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND    THE  PEOPLE.       359 

them,  to  ascertain  it  with  accuracy.  Over  100,000,000 
Hvres  a  year  were  received  and  paid  out,  without  any  ac- 
counts or  book-keeping  deserving  of  the  name.  It  was  not 
until  Colbert  that  an  orderly  system  was  introduced  into 
the  finances,  and  the  result  was  at  once  an  enormous  im- 
provement in  their  condition. 

These  various  official  positions,  whose  importance  con- 
stantly increased,  were,  under  Louis  XIII.  and  still  more 
under  Louis  XIV.,  entrusted  to  commoners.  While  cer- 
tain positions  about  the  Court  were  held  by  nobles,  the 
offices  of  responsibility  were  mostly  held  by  those  of 
inferior  birth.  It  was  one  of  Saint  Simon's  most  fre- 
quent complaints  at  the  close  of  Louis  XIV.'s  reign,  that 
plebeians  held  great  positions  and  acquired  by  them 
wealth  and  an  influence  that  should  belong  only  to 
those  of  noble  ancestry.'  This  tendency  is  found  both 
under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin,  and  here,  as  in  many  other 
respects,  Louis  XIV.  followed  their  traditions.  Richelieu 
said  he  wanted  for  the  management  of  the  finances  per- 
sons, neither  of  too  high,  nor  too  low  degree,  of  good 
reputation  so  far  as  possible,  not  gentlemen  of  the 
sword,  but  of  the  robe,  because  their  pretensions  would 
be  less. 

The  superintendent  had  by  no  means  the  entire  control 
of  the  financial  system.  Different  treasurers  disbursed  the 
monies  received  from  different  sources  of  taxation.  Dur- 
ing some  years  under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin,  nearly  one 
half  of  all  the  monies  paid  out  were  accounted  for  in  one 
lump  as  "  acquits  k  comptant,"  monies  paid  by  the  king's 
special  order.  In  the  four  years  from  1655  to  1659,  320,- 
000,000  livres  were  paid  out  in  this  manner.*  Under  a 
cover  which  prevented  examination,  there  was  every  facili- 
ity  for  fraud.  The  salary  of  the  treasurer  for  direct  taxes 
was  only  3,000  livres,  but  the  office  ordinarily  sold  for  2,- 

'  These  complaints  are  scattered  all  through  the  long  and  valuable  mem- 
oirs of  Saint  Simon.  Though  his  own  family  had  not  long  belonged  to  the 
aristocracy,  he  exhibits  in  the  strongest  degree  the  feelings  of  that  body. 

*  Lettres  de  Colbert,  ii.,  29. 


360     FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

000,000.'  "  When  I  was  treasurer,"  one  of  Orleans'  ser- 
vants said  to  the  duke,  "  I  became  a  robber  like  all  the 
rest."  The  collection  and  disbursement  of  the  revenues 
was  intrusted  to  an  enormous  number  of  officials,  largely 
independent  of  each  other,  and  constituting  a  most  costly 
and  ineffective  system. 

The  manner  in  which  payments  were  made  also  fur- 
nished an  opportunity  for  great  gains.  There  was  rarely 
any  money  on  hand,  and  the  creditor  received  an  order  upon 
the  fund  to  be  derived  from  some  particular  tax.  Orders 
were  often  outstanding  for  many  times  the  amount  which 
the  fund  would  receive  during  the  year,  and  that  condi- 
tion of  affairs  furnished  an  easy  excuse  for  delaying  pay- 
ments. The  orders  were  sold  at  a  great  discount,  and  in 
the  hands  of  the  officers  of  finance,  or  their  friends,  were 
promptly  paid  with  a  great  profit.  The  advances  to  the 
government,  at  rates  of  from  ten  to  twenty-five  per  cent., 
were  often  made  by  those  who  had  charge  of  the  collec- 
tion of  the  taxes.'  So  irregular  were  the  returns  of  taxes, 
that  the  government  sometimes  borrowed  its  own  money.* 
One  officer  received  120,000  livres  for  interest  on  advances 
to  the  government,  but  at  last  it  was  found  that  he  was 
in  arrears  for  1,700,000  livres  of  taxes  which  he  had  col- 
lected, but  had  not  as  yet  paid  over.*  From  such  prac- 
tices, from  the  high  rates  of  interest  paid  by  the  govern- 
ment, and  from  the  insufficient  amounts  received  for  the 
taxes  which  were  farmed,  the  enormous  fortunes  were  ac- 

*  Plumatif  de  la  Chambre  des  Comptes,  2759,  2760.  I  should  express  my 
obligation  to  M.  le  Vicomte  d'Avenel,  who  in  his  valuable  book  on  "  Riche- 
lieu et  la  Monarchie  Absolue"  has  printed  a  great  number  of  important 
documents,  and  by  his  references  has  furnished  a  guide  to  others  in  their 
examination. 

*  The  average  rate  of  interest  paid  by  the  government  for  advances  on 
taxes  was  at  least  fifteen  percent.  Let.  de  Maz.,  iii.,  159.  Dis.  Yen.,  cviii., 
30,  et  pas.  Talon,  271,  300.  Journal  du  Parlement,  17,  Lettres  et 
Inst,  de  Colbert,  ii.,  23.  Occasional  partial  repudiations  reduced  the  rate 
temporarily.  In  1639,  1648,  and  1660,  arbitrary  reductions  of  one  quarter  or 
more  were  made  on  the  interest  to  be  paid,  and  similar  reductions  were 
frequent.  The  government,  however,  profited  little  by  them,  and  claims  for 
arrears,  bought  very  low,  were  often  redeemed  in  full. 

*  Lettres  de  Richelieu,  ii.,  «09.  *  Mem.  de  Richelieu,  i.,  201. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND    THE  PEOPLE.       36 1 

cumulated  which  made  the  financiers  the  richest  and  the 
most  hated  class  in  France.  The  oppressions  which  they 
often  practised  added  to  the  ill-will  caused  by  their  great 
gains.  Having  paid  the  government  less  than  could  be 
justly  collected  from  a  duty,  they  extracted  from  the 
people  more  than  was  imposed.  Lambert,  an  officer  of 
the  treasury,  died  leaving  5,ooo,oco.  Galand,  a  well- 
known  financier,  was  said  to  have  left  12,000,000.  Bor- 
dier,  the  son  of  a  tallow  chandler,  gave  800,000  livres  to 
his  daughter  on  her  marriage,  and  spent  as  much  more  on 
his  house.  Boyer  and  Bonneau  left  their  children  over  a 
million  a  piece.  Bazini^re,  the  son  of  a  peasant,  began 
life  as  a  lackey,  became  a  financier,  and  left  4,000,000 
livres.'  A  young  Hollander  on  his  visit  to  Paris,  in 
1657,  speaks  of  the  fairy-like  beauty  and  splendor  of 
the  residences  and  palaces  of  the  financiers.  Their 
daughters  married  into  the  great  families  of  a  very 
exclusive  aristocracy,  and  the  widow  of  Galaud  was  left 
so  rich,  that  it  was  complained  a  president  of  Parliament 
was  not  ashamed  to  marry  her.' 

An  edict  of  1661  established  a  chamber  of  justice  to  in- 
vestigate and  punish  all  the  frauds  that  had  been  com- 
mitted in  the  finances  of  the  government  since  1635.* 
The  chamber  proceeded  with  vigor  in  its  work.  The 
finances  w6re  now  under  the  control  of  Colbert,  and  there 
were  neither  disorders  within  nor  wars  without  to  check 
or  harass  the  administration.  A  settlement  was  at  last 
made  by  the  payment,  by  the  various  parties  accused,  of 
1 10,000,000  livres  ;  60,000,000  in  money  and  50,000,000  in 
rentes ;  and  the  sum  thus  refunded  represented  but  a 
moderate  proportion  of  the  frauds  of  twenty-five  years.* 

'  Tallemant,  iv..  no. 

•Journal  d'Ormesson,  i.,  238,  304,  313.  Lettres  de  Richelieu,  viii.,  33. 
Lettres  de  Patin,  i.,  350.  Choix  des  Mazarinades,  i.,  113-140.  This  pamph- 
let occupies  twenty-seven  pages  with  a  list  of  the  financiers  and  their  sup- 
posed gains.  Journal  d'un  Voyage  4  Paris  en  1657,  39.  The  Venetian 
ambassador  said  :  "  La  maggiore  parte  delle  richezze  della  Francia  sono 
nelle  mani  dei  nartitanti."     Relazioni,  Francia,  t.  ii..  539. 

*  Anc.  lois  fran9aises,  xviii.,  12-15.  *  Journal  d'Ormesson,  ii.,  400. 


362       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Amid  such  practices,  the  expenses  of  the  government 
were  irregularly  paid.  Even  the  king  was  not  unfre- 
quently  in  need  of  ready  money.  His  personal  expenses, 
the  civil  list  proper,  were  from  three  to  four  million  livres 
a  year;  not  an  excessive  sum  compared  with  the  wasteful- 
ness in  other  directions.*  These  were  largely  increased  by 
the  great  number  of  officials  who  formed  part  of  the  royal 
household,  and  were  fed  and  paid  by  the  king.  There  were 
five  hundred  officers  for  the  table  and  as  many  for  the 
chamber,  for  here,  as  everywhere,  the  amounts  received 
from  the  sale  of  offices  had  led  to  their  indefinite  multipli- 
cation,* The  Court  was  more  lavish  under  the  regent  than 
under  Louis  XIII.  and  the  expenses  were  over  4,000,000 
a  year.  Mazarin  drew  from  1641  to  1648,  over  8,000,000- 
livres,  but  the  accounts  of  the  ministers  were  so 
confounded  with  those  of  the  state,  and  with  the  monies 
they  advanced  for  it,  that  it  is  impossible  to  say  how  much 
of  this  great  sum  was  for  his  own  expenses  and  the  mag- 
nificence which  he  supported.' 

During  the  thirty-six  years  which  were  covered  by  the 
administrations  of  Richelieu  and  Mazarin,  France  was  at 
war,  almost  without  intermission.  The  necessities  of  these 
wars  increased  the  burdens  of  taxation  and  caused  much 
of  the  misery  from  which  the  country  suffered. 

The  condition  of  the  army  was  the  most  important 
matter  for  the  government,  and  that  the  army  was  often 
ill-disciplined,  ill-paid,  and  ineffective  is  the  strongest  evi- 
dence of  the  financial  needs,  and  of  the  faulty  organization,^ 
of  the  administration.  The  irregularities  that  prevailed  in 
the  army  under  Richelieu,  have  already  beeen  referred  to, 
and  we  find  the  same  under  Mazarin,  but  aggravated  by 
the  troubles  of  the  Fronde. 

The  armies  seem  moderate  in  size  when  compared  with 
those  of  modern  times,  but  then  they  could  be  equalled 
by  no  other  European  nation.     Over  one  hundred  and 

*  See  Mss.  Godefroy  :  Caisse  Centrale  de  1'  Epargne,  published  by  D* 
Avenel.  *  Arch.  Nat.  K.  K.,  201. 

*  Compte  de  1'  argent  re9u  et  paye  par  le  banquier  Contarini. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        365 

fifty  thousand  men  were  under  arms  in  some  of  the  cam- 
paigns of  Richelieu.'  The  exhaustion  of  the  parties  and 
the  limitation  of  the  field  of  war  by  the  Peace  of  West- 
phalia diminished  this  number,  and  the  armies  of  France 
during  Mazarin's  administration  never  reached  that  figure.* 
Both  modern  rules  of  strategy  and  modern  means  of  war- 
fare were  largely  developed  during  these  wars.  At  the 
beginning  of  them  the  soldiers  were  still  partially  encum- 
bered by  the  defensive  armor  of  the  middle  ages.  Bombs 
were  first  used  by  the  French  in  1634  at  the  siege  of 
La  Motte.*  Their  fire-arms  were  imperfect,  and  the  bayo- 
net was  not  attached  to  the  gun.  The  lack  of  discipline, 
which  so  often  turned  the  soldiers  into  armed  robbers,  was 
not  due  wholly  to  the  irregularity  of  pay.  Even  the  fact 
that  they  were  not  furnished  with  uniforms,  and  generally 
had  no  distinctive  dress,  was  not  without  its  effect.*  It  was 
said  that  the  French  did  not  shoot  as  accurately  as  the 
Spaniards.  They  resembled  the  armies  of  Napoleon  in 
their  desire  for  a  spirited  leadership,  and  it  was  claimed 
that  one  Frenchman  in  an  attack,  was  worth  as  much  as 
three  on  the  defensive." 

The  pay  of  the  soldiers  was  good  when  compared  with 
that  received  by  common  laborers.  It  varied  from  four 
to  seven  sous  a  day.*  Some  English  soldiers  furnished 
by  Cromwell  in  1657  were  to  be  paid  eight  sous  a  day  and 
furnished  with  bread,  and  it  was  feared  that  even  that 
would  not  be  enough  to  support  those  coming  from  that 
flesh-eating  nation.^ 

But,  unfortunately,  the  wages  that  were  promised  were 
not  always  paid.  The  government  did  not  undertake  to 
furnish  supplies,  as  is  done  with  modern  armies,  and  the 
soldiers  without  pay  and  without  rations  were  obliged  to 

'  See  his  letters  before  cited.     *  Relazioni  Venete,  Francia,  ii.,  505-536. 
'  Tallemant  des  Reaux,  ii.,  185.     Mcrcuic,  xx.,  158,  164. 

*  La  Misire  au  Temps  dela  Fronde,  73. 

•  Mem.  de  Richelieu,  xxiii.,  216,  248. 

•  Mole,  i.,  487.  Journal  d'  un  Bourgeois  de  Marie. /ojrtw.  This  would 
be  8  to  14  sous  a  day  in  present  French  money. 

*  Journal  d'  un  Voyage  i  Paris  en  1657,  180.    "  Nation  camassiire." 


364       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

resort  to  pillage.  The  soldiers  of  Erlach  having  received 
no  pay  for  eight  months  revolted  and  even  threatened  to 
kill  their  ofHcers.'  Those  under  Weimar  in  Alsace,  with- 
out pay  or  rations,  deserted  their  companies,  and  pillaged 
the  country  until  they  were  gorged  with  booty.' 

"  There  is  no  doubt  the  province  will  be  ruined  by  our 
troops,  "  Harcourt  writes  from  Normandy  in  1649.  "  We 
have  not  a  sou,  and  we  are  in  such  extremity  that  if  we 
punish  those  who  pillage,  we  shall  lose  many  good  soldiers, 
who  have  had  no  pay  for  ten  months  and  cannot  subsist 
except  by  plunder."  '  "  If  charity  and  justice,"  a  superin- 
tendent writes  from  Turin,  "  do  not  supply  succor  to  our 
troops,  who  are  without  money,  rations,  arms,  and  shoes, 
prudence  should  not  allow  those  to  perish  whom  we  need 
against  enemies  both  within  and  without."  * 

The  navy  was  of  less  importance  than  the  army  in  the 
wars  that  were  raging,  and  it  received  less  attention. 
Richelieu,  however,  took  an  especial  interest  in  the  navy  and 
the  development  of  a  merchant  marine.  Though  he  was 
largely  absorbed  in  other  things  during  the  later  years  of 
his  administration,  the  naval  strength  of  France  was  con- 
siderably developed  by  his  exertions.  It  was  insignificant 
when  he  began  his  ministry.  Even  at  La  Rochelle,  in  1628, 
we  find  the  French  fleet  consisting  of  only  twenty-five 
ships  of  five  hundred  tons  burthen.'  It  was  largely 
increased  after  that  siege.  In  1640  the  fleet  consisted  of 
seventy-six,  and  in  1642  of  eighty-five  sail.  The  Venetian 
ambassador  estimates  the  fleet  in  1641  at  as  much  as  one 
hundred  ships.  Only  two  or  three  of  them  were  over  one 
thousand  tons  burthen.  The  expenses  of  the  marine 
amounted  to  3,000,000  livres.'  Richelieu  endeavored,  also, 

■  Let.  de  Mazarin,  i.,  669.  *  Mem.  de  Bassompierre,  350. 

*  Arch.  Nat.K,  K.  Ms.,  1083.,  150. 

*  Letter  of  Servient  to  Seguier,  May  29,  1649.  The  official  correspond- 
ence and  the  memoirs  of  this  period  are  full  of  similar  complaints. 

*  Fontenay  Mareuil,  205. 

*  See  Etat  de  la  Marine,  t.  42.  Sup.  Dupuy.  Etats  Statisques  de  la  Marine, 
in  Documents  Inedits,  Correspondance  de  Sourdis,  iii.,  359-527.  Relazioni 
Venete,  Francia,  ii.,  348. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        365. 

to  furnish  assistance  for  the  merchant  ships  against  pirates, 
and  to  increase  the  coast  guards.  The  navy  suffered, 
however,  under  Mazarin  after  1647,  His  attention  was  so 
absorbed  in  foreign  politics  that  he  often  neglected  the 
internal  interests  in  France,  nor  indeed  was  he  at  all 
familiar  with  what  was  required  for  the  internal  develop- 
ment of  that  kingdom.  But  the  disorders  caused  by  the 
Fronde  were  such,  that  it  was  impossible  to  attend  to 
many  interests  which  required  money  and  order.  While 
the  cardinal  is  entitled  to  the  credit  for  the  successful 
termination  of  the  wars  of  France  by  two  great  treaties 
which  increased  her  territory  and  added  to  her  prestige  in 
Europe,  the  blame  for  many  disorders  which  temporarily 
checked  the  prosperity  of  the  people  should  be  borne  in 
equal  degree  by  those  who  kept  the  country  for  five  years 
involved  in  civil  war.  Some  of  Richelieu's  measures,  by 
their  severity,  had  defeated  their  ends.  He  declared  that 
a  sailor  who  served  for  one  year  in  the  navy  belonged 
forever  to  the  service  of  the  king.  Mazarin  judiciously 
allowed  them  to  take  service  again  on  merchant  ships.* 

A  few  ships  were  constructed  in  1655,  one  of  them  of 
two  thousand  tons  burthen,  and  Mazarin  gave  careful 
instructions  as  to  their  equipment  and  the  pay  and  care 
of  the  sailors." 

But  in  1661  there  were  only  twenty-two  vessels  of  war, 
and  but  1,045  cannon  for  them.*  The  navy  had  been 
reduced  by  fully  one  half,  and  the  ships  that  still 
remained  were  in  bad  repair.  The  amount  spent  on  the 
navy  in  1656  was  only  312,000  livres.*  Two  hundred 
years  later  France  spent  160,000,000  francs  on  her  navy,^ 
or  over  eighty  times  as  much. 

The  condition  of  commerce  and  trade  was  little  more 
flourishing.     The  efforts  made  to  reestablish  French  com- 

'  Orel.  March  4,  1643. 

•  Aff.  Etr.  France, 8  95.,  19,  33,  ei pas. 

•  Letlres  de  Colbert,  ii.,  50.  Etnts  ties  Batiments,  Sept.,  1661.  73.,  iii., 
699,  700.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  all  of  those  reckoned 
under  Richelii  u  were  not  strictly  vessels  of  war. 

•  Comptes  Rendus,  par  Mallet. 


366      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

merce  on  the  Mediterranean  were  not  accompanied  by  any 
large  degree  of  success.  Manufactures  and  internal  com- 
merce were  greatly  hampered  by  the  complicated  cus- 
toms duties  which  divided  France  and  made  its  different 
provinces  regarded  as  foreign  nations  to  each  other,  and 
by  the  countless  regulations  and  restrictions  on  trade. 
The  exchange  of  products  even  within  the  kingdom  was 
checked,  and  in  some  parts  almost  prohibited,  by  the  num- 
ber of  local  tolls,  both  on  land  and  water,  to  which  it  was 
subjected.  Goods  from  Havre  to  Paris  paid  local  duties 
or  tolls  at  Rouen,  Andelys,  Vernon,  Roche  Guyon, 
Mantes,  Meulan,  Poissy,  Conflans,  Maisons,  and  St.  Denis. 
They  then  paid  at  Paris  duties  on  river  gate  and  ban.' 
There  were  twenty-eight  different  tolls  on  the  river  Loire. 
Besides  several  thousand  legal  tolls  and  duties,  many  were 
imposed  that  were  illegal.  Some  local  governor  would 
forbid  the  passage  of  wheat  from  his  district  to  another, 
in  order  to  compel  the  owners  to  pay  him  for  a  passport 
for  its  transportation."  Even  without  such  impositions, 
the  carriage  of  goods  was  so  expensive  from  the  badness 
of  the  roads,  that  it  was  not  practicable  for  any  long  dis- 
tance, except  by  water. 

The  difficulty  in  the  exchange  of  products  caused  great 
differences  of  price  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom. 
Wheat  would  be  selling  much  lower  in  Picardy  than  at 
La  Rochelle.*  Provisions,  wine,  or  cider  would  be  at  very 
low  prices  in  one  district,  and  be  very  dear  in  another 
twenty  or  thirty  leagues  away.  The  farmers  and  dealers 
would  leave  crops  to  perish  rather  than  attempt  to  trans- 
port them  even  that  distance,  and  pay  the  numerous  and 
uncertain  duties  which  would  be  imposed  at  different 
places  on  the  route.*  The  cost  of  transportation  on  bulky 
articles  was  very  great.  To  bring  a  barrel  of  codfish  from 
the  coast  of  Normandy  to  Paris  cost  seven  livres,  or  as 
much  as  eight  dollars  now."     A  pound  of  salt  which  cost 

'  Mss.  Bibl.  Nat.,  18,510.  f.  193.  •  Let.  de  Colbert,  i.,  210. 

•  /*.,  316.  *  Disme  Royale,  32. 

•D'Avenel.  ii.,  261. 


THE   ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        367 

two  SOUS  at  Rochelle,  would  cost  twenty-five  sous  when 
it  had  reached  Paris.' 

Not  only  different  measures  used  in  almost  every  city, 
but  different  rates  of  duty  imposed  in  almost  every  prov- 
ince, added  to  the  uncertainties.  A  measure  of  brandy 
paid  a  tax  of  six  livres  at  Rouen,  five  livres  at  Confians, 
and  four  livres  and  a  half  at  Paris."  In  1650  certain  duties 
were  sixteen  deniers  the  pound  in  Normandy,  twenty  in 
Burgundy,  and  twenty-three  in  Champagne.  Colbert  de- 
clared that  the  merchants  were  ruined  by  the  tolls.' 

Manufactures,  however,  had  not  been  entirely  checked 
by  such  obstacles,  in  a  country  whose  natural  richness  and 
fertility  to  some  extent  triumphed  over  the  bad  govern- 
ment from  which  it  suffered.  The  value  of  the  fabrics 
exported  from  France  to  England  and  Holland  was  esti- 
mated in  1656  at  8o,ooo,cxx)  livres  a  year."  Linen  and 
serge  stuffs  were  made  at  Rheims  and  Chalons  ;  silk  and 
woollen  stockings  in  Beauce  and  Picardy ;  silk  goods 
came  from  Lyons  and  Tours,  and  beaver  hats  from  Paris 
and  Rouen.*  In  1656  the  first  establishment  for  making 
woven  stockings  was  started  in  France,  and  was  success- 
ful. It  was  stated,  however,  that  from  1620  to  1663  the 
manufacturing  interests  of  France  had  considerably  de- 
clined, and  that  the  English  and  Dutch  had  gained  much 
of  the  trade  that  formerly  belonged  to  the  French.  The 
manufacturers  of  silks  at  Lyons  and  Troyes  had  been 
most  fortunate  in  retaining  their  business,  but  even  these 
had  lost.*  There  had  been  no  change  in  tariffs  which  had 
modified  the  relation  of  French  to  foreign  goods  during 
this  time.  But  manufacturing  interests  had  suffered,  with 
all  others,  from  the  evils  of  war  and  internal  disturbances, 
and  from  the  effects  of  excessive  taxation  and  commercial 
restraints.  When  Joly  was  in  Holland  in  1647  he  was 
impressed  by  the  absence  of  beggars  and  of  disorderly 

'  "  Mem.  sur  les  Finances  "  presente  ^  Louis  XIV. 

*  Edict  of  January  12,  1633.  *  Lettres  de  Colbert,  ii.,  48. 

*  Mem.  de  Jean  de  Witt,  vi.,  182. 

•  Addresse  des  six  Corps  des  Marchaiuls,  1654. 

•  Let.  et  instructions  de  Colbert,  ii.,  125. 


368       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

soldiers.  "  The  troops,"  he  said,  "  were  paid,  and  one 
could  go  in  safety  by  day  and  night."  '  In  this  order 
and  tranquillity,  which  he  noticed  because  it  contrasted 
with  the  condition  of  France  at  this  time,  the  Dutch  mer- 
chants and  manufacturers  had  prospered  and  increased 
their  trade.  In  England,  the  Revolution,  which  produced 
so  much  greater  political  changes  than  the  Fronde,  had 
not  so  much  disturbed  the  prosperity  and  business  of  the 
country.  In  fishing,  also,  the  Dutch  were  far  in  advance, 
and  claimed  to  have  engaged  in  this  industry  thirty  times 
as  many  vessels  as  the  French. 

The  weakness  of  the  navy  was  a  serious  injury  to  French 
commerce.  The  trade  of  the  cities  of  southern  France 
on  the  Mediterranean  was  greatly  injured,  and  in  some 
places  destroyed,  by  the  ravages  of  pirates.  Two  million, 
even  six  million  livres  of  property  belonging  to  the  French 
was  said  to  be  destroyed  yearly  by  the  corsairs,  who  came 
from  Algiers,  Tunis,  and  Dunkirk,  and  whose  ships  were 
often  manned  by  desperadoes  from  every  part  of  Europe.* 
The  French  government  was  unable  to  extirpate  these 
pests,  and  they  frequently  ravaged  the  coasts.  Houses 
and  towns  along  the  Mediterranean  shore  were  fortified 
and  armed  so  as  to  be  ready  for  some  sudden  invasion. 
Cannon  commanded  the  bays.  A  flag  hoisted  on  a  high 
tower  by  day,  and  fires  by  night,  warned  the  inhabitants 
of  the  approach  of  the  corsairs.  In  one  town  eighty  per- 
sons were  captured  within  four  months  and  taken  off  to 
be  sold  as  slaves.*  The  corsair  ships  were  well  armed  and 
equipped.  One  that  was  captured  had  seventeen  cannon 
and  a  crew  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  Turks.  Forty  Chris- 
tian slaves  of  different  nations  worked  at  the  oars.*  The 
reprisals  that  were  allowed  are  contrary  to  our  ideas. 
The  French  captains  were  ordered  to  make  descents  on 

'  Voyage  i  MUnster  en  1647,  119,  120. 

'  Gazette.  Assemblee  des  Notables,  1626,  207.  Recueil  des  Etats  Gen- 
eraux,  xvi.,  43  ;  xvii.,  193. 

*  Much  curious  information  on  this  subject  is  found  in  the  official  report  of 
the  voyage  of  inspection  of  M.  de  Seguiran  in  1633. 

^Gazette,  1631,  470. 


THE  ADMINJSTRATION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        369 

Barbary  and  take  such  prisoners  as  they  could,  that  they 
might  work  as  slaves  in  the  French  galleys.' 

It  was  claimed  that  the  commerce  of  Marseilles  in  1633 
was  not  over  half  of  what  it  had  been,  and  this  diminution 
was  charged,  in  large  degree,  to  the  effects  of  the  war  and 
the  ravages  of  pirates.  But  many  vexatious  restraints  on 
trade,  both  in  France  and  other  countries,  had  also  inter- 
fered with  its  development.*  Toulon  did  not  have  over 
one  hundred  vessels,  and  the  most  of  those  were  only 
fishing  smacks.  The  capital  then  invested  in  shipping  was 
only  about  1 5o,cxX)  livres." 

Many  of  the  numerous  trading  companies  that  were 
organized  under  Richelieu  never  proceeded  further  than 
their  prospectus.  Still  there  was  some  development  of 
French  interests  in  the  colonies.  Though  the  various 
settlements  attempted  in  Canada  produced  but  small  re- 
sults, beginnings  were  made  of  French  colonization  in  the 
Antilles  and  at  various  places  along  the  coast  of  Africa.* 
A  treaty  of  commerce  was  made  with  Russia,  but  that 
empire  was  still  thrown  open  very  cautiously  to  strangers.* 
Various  expeditions  were  made  against  Algiers  to  repress 
piracy  and  compel  that  country  to  make  peace  and  observe 
it,  but  the  relations  of  France  with  Algeria  were  confined 
to  redeeming  captives  and  hanging  pirates. 

The  interest  in  colonial  development  which  was  aroused 
at  this  time  was  increased  under  Colbert,  and  France 
established  many  prosperous  colonies  which  might  have 
been  the  foundation  of  a  foreign  empire  like  that  of  Eng- 
land. 

Improvements  in  the  condition  of  any  country  consist 

'  Letlres  de  Colbert,  iii.,  28,  et passim.  It  was,  however,  claimed  that  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  the  heathen  would  be  advanced  by  their  slavery  in 
Christian  countries.       *  Relation  de  Seguiran,  230,  231.       *  lb.,  274,  275. 

*The  measures  adopted  for  the  colonization  of  Canada  seem  to  have  been 
sometimes  more  vigorous  than  judicious.  Grotius,  in  1643,  "  Epistolae  Ined- 
itse,"  113,  speaks  of  the  intention  of  the  government  to  send  to  Canada  all 
women  of  bad  character  for  the  increase  of  its  population.  The  young  Hol- 
landers at  Paris,  in  1657,  speak  of  a  similar  endeavor,  made  at  that  time. 
— "Journal  d'  un  Voyage  a  Paris  en  1657,"  214. 

•  See  Mercure  Fran9ois,  t.  xvi.,  102a,  et  seq. 


370      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN, 

largely  in  improving  the  means  of  communication.  Mod- 
ern, like  Roman  civilization  is  a  civilization  of  roads.  The 
great  increase  in  the  prosperity  of  France  under  Henry  IV., 
can  be  measured  by  the  sums  which  were  expended  on 
rivers,  canals,  and  highways.  Six  hundred  thousand  livres 
were  spent  on  them  in  1599,  ^"^  ^"  i^"^  three  millions  and 
a  half  of  livres  were  appropriated  for  these  purposes. 
Such  works  were  abandoned  after  Henry's  death.  The 
insignificant  sum  of  37,000  livres  was  expended  on  them 
in  1616,  38,634  in  1639,  and  but  100,000  in  1661.' 

The  highways  were  left  to  the  care  of  local  authorities," 
and  what  little  was  done  was  usually  the  construction  of 
a  road  leading  more  conveniently  to  the  residence  of  some 
great  nobleman.  They  were  not  laid  out  of  a  uniform 
width,  and  frequent  encroachments  on  them  were  made  by 
adjacent  owners.  They  were  ill  repaired,  and  were  ordi- 
narily sinuous,  full  of  holes,  stones,  and  other  obstructions. 
The  overflows  of  the  rivers,  which  were  much  more  fre- 
quent and  serious  than  now,  often  made  impassable  the 
highways  which  before  had  been  only  dangerous.* 

The  chief  evil  under  which  France  suffered  was,  how- 
ever, the  system  of  taxation,  and  its  abuses  were  aggra- 
vated at  a  time  when  the  needs  of  war  compelled  a  great 
increase  in  the  amounts  to  be  raised.  This  period,  and 
especially  the  years  of  the  Fronde,  found  the  condition  of 
the  mass  of  the  French  people  one  of  special  misery,  and 
their  suffering  was  due  in  almost  equal  degree  to  the 
ravages  of  the  soldier  and  of  the  tax-gatherer.  In  ascer- 
taining the  amount  that  was  taken  from  the  people,  and 
also  the  amount  of  wages  which  they  earned  at  this  time, 
it  is  necessary  to  state  the  relative  value  of  the  money  of 
that  period  and  our  own.  The  actual  value  of  money  was 
subject  to  considerable  fluctuation  from  the  variations  in 
the  price  of  silver.  Then,  as  now,  France  used  the  double 
standard.  But  the  relative  value  of  gold  to  silver  was  one 
to  11.85  in  1615,  and  one  to  14.76  in  1640. 

'  Conferences  sur  I'Histoire  etc.,  des  Fonts  et  Chaussees:  Ancre. 
•See  various    "Pieces  Justificatives "   on   the  condition   of   the   roads, 
printed  in  "Etudes  sur  1' Administration  des  Voies  publiques,"  Vignon,  t.  i. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        37 1 

The  government  endeavored  to  hold  its  silver  at  its 
former  value,  and  the  merchants  insisted  on  taking  it  at  its 
present  value.  In  1640  the  change  was,  however,  recog- 
nized by  the  creation  of  a  new  coin,  the  louis  d'or,  which 
was  used  until  the  Revolution,  and  was  made  of  the  value 
of  ten  livres  of  silver.'  The  value  of  the  louis  d'or  is 
about  twenty  francs  of  the  present  money  of  France,  and 
the  livre,  from  1640  to  1660,  represents  in  money  value 
two  francs. 

The  difference  is  still  more  considerable  when  we  con- 
sider the  relative  value.  So  many  elements  affect  prices 
that  such  an  estimate  must  be  a  rough  one,  but,  compar- 
ing the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  with  the 
present  time,  I  think  it  is  not  excessive  to  say,  that  a  given 
amount  of  money  then  had  a  relative  value  as  large  as 
three  times  as  great  a  sum  would  have  now.'  In  giving, 
therefore,  iigures  in  livres,  the  term  of  account  then  used, 
one  livre  is  equal  in  weight  to  two  francs,  and  in  relative 
value  would  represent  about  six  francs,  nearly  one  dollar 
and  twenty  cents  of  American  money,  or  five  shillings  of 
English  money.  * 

The  increase  in  amounts  collected  by  taxes,  from  the 
death  of  Henry  IV.  to  the  death  of  Mazarin,  was  much 
more  than  the  depreciation  in  the  value  of  money,  which 
did  not  exceed  thirty  per  cent.,  or  than  the  increase  in 
wealth,  with  was  very  small,  if  any.  The  chief  item  in  the 
French  budget  was  the  taille.  This  was  a  direct  tax  im- 
posed upon  the  property  of  those  assessed,  and  in  theory 
it  was  in  proportion  to  the  amount  they  possessed.  But 
in  the  most  of  France  it  fell  chiefly  upon  personal 
property.  It  was  impossible  that  with  the  most  exact  and 
honest  system  it  should  be  accurately  apportioned,  and 

'  Ord.,  March  31,  1640. 

•  A  vast  number  of  figures  supporting  this  estimate  can  be  found  in 
D'Avenel,  t.  ii.,  158-178.  It  is  not  based  solely  on  the  price  of  wheat,  as  is 
sometimes  done,  and  this  alone  does  not,  I  think,  furnish  a  sufficient 
criterion. 

*  These  figures  are  all,  of  course,  approximate,  and  expressed  in  round 
numbers,  for  convenience. 


372       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

the  system  that  was  in  force  was  both  loose  and  dis- 
honest. The  local  assessors  exempted  some  and  over- 
taxed others  ;  they  released  their  friends  or  their  villages, 
and  imposed  an  increased  burden  upon  others,  and,  to  a 
very  large  extent,  exemptions  or  reductions  were  obtained 
by  those  who  had  money  with  which  to  bribe  or  to  liti- 
gate.'    The  bulk  of  this  tax  fell  upon  the  peasants. 

From  it,  indeed,  a  large  part  of  the  population,  and 
the  part  possessing  the  most  of  the  wealth  of  the  coun- 
try, was  entirely  exempt.  The  nobility  were  free  from 
any  personal  tax,  and  under  this  head  were  probably 
included  400,000  people.  The  clergy  were  free,  almost 
all  of  the  officials  of  every  kind,  and  the  members  of 
many  professions  and  trades.  Many  of  the  cities  had 
obtained  exemption  from  the  taille  by  the  payment  of  a 
sum  of  money,  which  was  either  nominal  or  very  moder- 
ate. Only  laborers  and  peasants,  it  was  said,  still  remained 
subject  to  it."  Out  of  1 1,000,000  people  in  those  portions 
of  France  where  the  taille  was  a  personal  tax,  probably 
2,500,000  were  exempt.* 

The  amount  collected  by  this  duty  increased  during  the 
war  with  ruinous  rapidity.  The  taille  in  161 8  amounted 
to  20,000,000  livres;  in  1630  to  38,000,000,  and  in  1657  it 
reached  53,400,000.*  Such  amounts  could  not  be  entirely 
collected.  The  arrears  of  old  taxes  increased,  and  in 
many  cases  the  peasant  had  nothing  left  with  which  to 
pay.  Arrears  down  to  1646  were  discharged  in  1648,  at  the 
request  of  the  Parliament,  and  20,000,000  of  arrears  were 
discharged  for  the  later  years  of  Mazarin's  administra- 
tion.' 

To  the  amount  of  the  taille  must  be  added  the  sums 

'  Lettres  Patentes,  Sept.  30,  1638.  Edict,  Nov.,  1641.  Testament 
Politique  de  Richelieu.  Cahiers  Etats  de  Normandie,  passim,  etc.  Lettres, 
etc.,  de  Colbert,  i.,  360,  et  passim,  referring  to  such  abuses  in  Guienne. 
The  authorities  for  the  various  abuses  in  taxation  are  innumerable. 

'  See  Vauban  "  Dime  Royale."  Etat  de  la  France  en  1648.  Forbonnais. 
"  Recherches  sur  les  Finances."     D'Avenel :   "La  Monarchie  Absolue." 

•  Lettres  et  Instructions  de  Colbert,  ii.,  19,  66. 

*  Mallet :  Comptes  Rendus.  *  Lettres  de  Colbert,  ii.,  8. 


THE  ADMINISTRA  TION  AND  THE   PEOPLE.         373 

collected,  in  the  same  manner,  for  the  support  and  ra- 
tions of  the  troops,  which  often  increased  this  tax  by 
more  than  one  half.'  In  1643,  it  is  safe  to  estimate  that 
there  was  collected  for  these  taxes  in  the  portions  of 
France  where  there  were  not  local  States,  60,000,000 
livres,  and  that  this  fell  upon  8,500,000  people.  Over  7 
livres,  as  much  as  42  francs  now  or  about  eight  dollars, 
was  paid  by  the  poorer  classes  per  capita  in  one  year  for 
direct  taxes.  Such  a  rate  of  taxation  was  unbearable, 
and  there  is  abundant  proof  of  the  ruin  it  produced  in 
many  parts  of  France. 

Towns  became  burdened  with  arrears ;  the  inhabitants 
were  held  liable  as  a  body  until  they  deserted  their 
homes,  and  a  former  village  became  a  wilderness.  The 
taxes  were  collected  with  wastefulness  and  brutality  from 
those  who  had  no  ready  money  with  which  to  pay.  A 
company  of  fifty  men  were  sent  to  Orbec  by  the  tax-re- 
ceiver. They  broke  the  doors  of  the  houses,  cut  the  wheat 
and  sold  it  at  ruinous  prices,  and  burned  the  carts.*  In 
Picardy  and  Champagne  parishes  were  deserted,  and  labor 
had  ceased  in  many  parts  of  the  kingdom.' 

At  Cirey,  in  1651,  the  rolls  for  the  taille,  required  from 
the  local  officials,  could  not  be  furnished,  because  there 
was  no  one  in  the  village  who  knew  how  to  read  or  write, 
but  a  staff  was  found  on  which  various  marks  made  by  a 
knife  represented  the  sums  imposed  on  the  inhabitants, 
and  the  amounts  they  had  paid.  A  few  half-ruined 
houses  now  composed  the  village,  and  unless  they  were 
released  from  their  taxes  the  inhabitants  said  they  must 
leave  it.  There  were  already  200  livres  of  arrearages  and 
payment  was  impossible.^ 

In  1643  the  Court  of  Aids  in  Normandy  declared  that 

'  Cahiers  de  Bresse,  1649.  Mss.  Godefroy,  cclxxx.,  60.  Arrets  du  Conseil, 
Aug.  3,  1660  ;  Jan.  5,  1662.       *  Cahier  des  Etats  de  Normandie,  iii.,  no. 

*  Arrets  de  Conseil,  May  ii,  164 1. 

*  Proems  Verbal  of  165 1,  published  by  Feillet.  In  his  valuable  work, 
"  La  Mis^re  au  Temps  de  la  Fronde,"  M.  Feillet  has  collected  and  published 
a  great  number  of  contemporary  official  statements  of  the  condition  of 
various  towns  and  provinces. 


374      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

the  prisons  were  full  of  men  who  had  paid  their  own 
taille,  but  were  confined  because  they  were  unable  to  pay 
that  of  their  insolvent  neighbors.  More  than  fifty  men 
imprisoned  for  such  a  cause  had  died  at  Pontandemer 
alone,  and  the  province  demanded  succor  in  the  wretched 
state  to  which  it  had  been  reduced  by  the  rigor  of  the 
farmers  of  taxes.' 

This  system  of  collecting  the  taille  did  not  extend  over 
the  whole  of  France.  Languedoc,  Provence,  Burgundy, 
Brittany,  B6arn,  and  some  smaller  divisions,  were  coun- 
tries of  the  States,  portions  of  the  kingdom  which  had 
preserved  their  local  assemblies.  By  these  States  the 
direct  tax  which  the  province  paid  to  the  general  govern- 
ment was  voted  and  imposed.  The  endeavor  of  the 
French  kings  was  to  do  away  with  these  remains  of  par- 
liamentary government.  The  last  session  of  the  States  of 
Normandy  was  held  in  1657.*  For  many  years  before 
that,  their  authority  had  been  practically  destroyed,  and 
their  sessions  only  served  for  the  description  of  the  rav- 
ages from  war,  and  the  oppression  from  taxation,  to  which 
that  unfortunate  province  was  subjected.  Dauphiny  and 
Guienne  in  like  manner  had  lost  their  right  to  local  gov- 
ernment. 

But  in  some  provinces,  these  institutions  were  still  in 
full  vigor  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
their  existence  caused  a  great  difference  between  the 
prosperity  of  those  favored  districts,  and  that  of  the  rest 
of  France.  The  local  States  not  only  attended  to  various 
local  expenses,  but  they  fixed  the  amount  of  the  gift  or 
contribution  which  the  province  would  make  to  the  gen- 
eral expenses  of  the  country,  and  they  attended  to  its 
collection.  What  this  sum  should  be  was  a  matter  of 
constant  controversy  between  the  officers  of  the  king,  and 
the  representatives  of  the  province.  Personal  influences,, 
bribes,  and  threats  were  used  to  produce  liberality  among 
the  delegates,  and  the  government  often  endeavored  to 

'  Articles  de  Remonstrances,  etc.,  Nov.  26,  1643.  Reg.  Seer.,  Aug.  8> 
1644.  •  See  Lettres  de  Colbert,  t.  2,  Cahiers  des  6tats.  411. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND    THE  PEOPLE.       375 

obtain  the  election  of  those  who  would  act  in  its  inter- 
ests. But  these  bodies  still  retained  such  a  degree  of 
independence,  that  the  amount  collected  by  the  taille  from 
the  countries  of  the  States  was, /^r  capita^  less  than  one 
third  of  the  sum  paid  in  the  rest  of  France.  The  pro- 
vinces of  the  States  contained  nearly  one  third  of  the 
population  of  France.  They  paid  one  tenth  of  the  taille. 
In  1639,  Normandy  and  Brittany  had  nearly  the  same 
population.  Normandy  paid  7,000,000  for  the  taille  and 
Brittany  1,500,000.' 

Not  only  did  the  inhabitants  of  these  provinces  pay 
much  less  in  proportion,  but  the  taille  was  there  collected 
as  it  should  have  been  in  all  of  France.  It  was  a  real  and 
not  a  personal  tax.  It  fell  upon  the  land,  and  was  there- 
fore imposed  with  ease  and  comparative  accuracy.  Lands 
that  were  called  noble  were  exempt  from  taxation,  but  it 
was  an  exemption  that  belonged  to  the  land.  The  ex- 
emptions from  the  taille,  though  unjust,  were  not  so 
numerous  nor  so  glaring  as  in  the  rest  of  France.  The  tax 
was  collected  under  the  direction  of  the  States  at  a  com- 
paratively moderate  expense,  and  the  peasant  who  owned 
no  land  was  free  from  the  pursuit  of  the  tax  gatherer. 

The  south  was  largely  a  country  of  States,  and  it  pos- 
sessed also  exemption  from  most  import  duties.  These 
provinces  had  not  entirely  lost  their  independence  in  their 
gradual  union  with  France.  They  refused  to  pay  the 
duty  on  merchandise.  The  government  decided  to  collect 
the  duties  at  the  border  of  the  northern  provinces,  until 
the  inhabitants  of  the  others  should  suffer  the  establish- 
ment of  these  taxes,  and  the  matter  remained  in  that  con- 
dition for  four  hundred  years.  Brittany  also  was  outside 
of  the  customs  duties.  The  local  States  often  showed  a 
narrow  spirit,  and  made  unreasonable  objections  to  meas- 
ures that  were  liberal  and  beneficial.  Their  members 
caused  occasional  scandal  by  the  liberality  of  the  allow- 
ances for  their  own  expenses.     But  the  condition  of  the 

'  Normandy  was  probably  a  wealthier  province,  but  no  such  difference  ex- 
isted in  wealth  as  was  found  in  the  amount  of  taxes. 


376      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

residents  of  these  provinces,  except  as  they  were  some- 
times exposed  to  devastations  by  the  armies,  was  far 
superior  to  that  of  the  rest  of  France.  The  difference 
was  chiefly  found  in  the  country  and  the  small  towns,  but 
the  commercial  advantages  which  the  provinces  enjoyed 
increased  the  trade  and  the  wealth  of  their  cities.  The 
risings  of  peasants,  caused  by  taxation  and  misery,  were 
generally  in  the  other  portions  of  France.  The  influence 
of  these  local  States  was  not  afTected  by  the  efforts  of 
Richelieu,  and  they  were  not  attacked  by  Mazarin.  The 
countries  of  the  States  were  unable,  however,  to  preserve 
their  independence  undiminished,  during  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV.  In  1689  Mme.  de  S6vign6  described  the 
States  of  Brittany,  the  province  which  least  of  all  be- 
came French  in  its  character,  and  which  jealously  en- 
deavored to  preserve  its  local  independence.  There  was 
a  crowd,  a  press,  a  great  confusion.  The  governor  of  the 
province  indulged  in  a  profuse  and  reckless  magnificence. 
His  table  was  constantly  set  for  sixty.  The  representa- 
tive of  the  king  demanded  3,000,000  livres,  and  it  was 
voted  without  debate.  "  One  has  only  to  demand  what 
the  king  wants,"  she  writes  again.  "  No  one  says  a  word. 
Presents,  pensions,  gambling,  balls  every  night,  comedies 
three  times  a  week, — there  you  can  see  what  are  the 
States."  '  / 

Next  to  the  taille,  the  most  important  tax  was  the 
gabelle,  and,  though  less  onerous,  it  also  produced  a  vast 
amount  of  misery.  The  gabelle  was  a  duty  on  salt,  and  it 
was  farmed  by  the  government.  The  burden  of  an  ex- 
cessive tax  was  increased  by  the  cupidity  of  those  who 
bought  the  right  to  collect  its  proceeds.  The  French 
government  retained  a  monopoly  of  salt,  much  like  that 

'  Lettres  de  Mme.  de  Sevigne,  t.  vi.,  let.  11 19,  and  letter  of  Oct.  26, 
1689.  A  similar  condition  in  Languedoc  is  described  in  a  letter  of  the 
Bishop  of  Mirepoix  to  Colbert  in  1672.   Cor.  Ad.  sous  Louis  XIV.,  t.  i.,  288. 

The  best  authority  for  the  condition  of  the  local  States  is  in  the  letters 
and  despatches  contained  in  "  Correspondance  Administrative  sous  Louis 
XIV.,"  t.  i.  They  fill  a  volume  of  1000  pages.  See  also  D'  Avenel,  t.  ii., 
p.  205-220.     Lettres  et  Instructions  de  Colbert,  t.  iv.,  1-179. 


THE  ADMINISTRA  TION  AND    THE  PEOPLE.        377 

which  it  now  possesses  of  tobacco,  but  the  price  which  it 
<:harged  for  this  article  of  necessity  was  such,  that  the 
States  of  Normandy  declared  that  salt  cost  the  people 
more  than  all  the  rest  of  their  food.'  In  some  provinces 
the  price  fixed  imposed  a  duty  of  about  3,000  per  cent., 
and  salt  sold  for  nearly  ten  sous  a  pound,  thirty  times 
its  present  price  in  France,  though  it  is  still  subject  to  a 
considerable  duty." 

From  this  tax  there  were  no  personal  exemptions,  but 
large  portions  of  the  country  were  not  subject  to  the 
gabelle.  Brittany  was  free.  Guienne,  Poitou,  and 
several  other  provinces  were  wholly  exempt  or  paid  a 
trifling  subsidy.  About  one  third  of  the  population  were 
free  from  this  duty,  and  the  exemption  was  so  valued  that 
a  rumor  that  the  gabelle  was  to  be  imposed  was  sufficient 
to  excite  a  local  insurrection.*  Such  a  duty,  on  an  article 
like  salt,  was  also  necessarily  much  more  oppressive  for 
the  poor  than  the  rich.  As  the  exorbitant  price  would 
compel  many  to  go  without  the  commodity,  the  tax  was 
often  rendered  a  direct  one.  The  amount  of  salt  was 
fixed  which  a  family  should  consume,  and  this  they  were 
forced  to  take  at  the  price  established  by  the  government.* 
Houses  were  searched  in  the  investigation  of  the  amounts 
that  had  been  taken,  and  still  more  in  the  pursuit  after 
illegal  salt,  and  the  persons  of  the  peasants  were  often  ex- 
amined without  regard  to  age  or  sex.' 

The  gabelle  was  farmed  for  about  20,000,000  livres,  and 
to  cover  the  expenses  and  profits  of  the  farmers  probably 
27,000,000  in  all  was  collected  from  the  people.  A  family 
of  six  would,  on  an  average,  pay  the  equivalent  of  ninety 
francs,  or  about  eighteen  dollars  a  year,  for  this  duty.  The 

'  Cahiers  des  Etats  de  Nonnandie,  i.,  150, 

'  Edicts  of  1636  and  1638.  D'Avenel,  ii.,  281.  This,  of  course,  is  allow- 
ing for  the  difference  in  relative  values  of  money.  See  Relazioni  Venete, 
Francia,  ii.,  343. 

'  Letter  of  Richelieu  to  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux,  Aug.,  1631. 

*  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  i.,  286.  There  are  a  great  number  of  edicts  regu- 
lating and  confusing  the  imposition  of  the  gabelle. 

*  Cahiers  des  Etats  de  Normandie,  i.,  184. 


378      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

peasant  of  Normandy  or  Champagne,  during  the  Fronde^ 
who  gave  for  a  pound  of  salt  a  day  and  a  half  of  labor, 
would  see  with  envy  and  amazement  his  descendant  eating 
salt  that  costs  ten  centimes. 

When  the  cost  of  this  article  was  so  high,  it  was  una- 
voidable that  there  should  be  large  amounts  sold  illegally, 
and  that  every  endeavor  should  be  made  to  avoid  buying 
it  of  the  government.  The  punishment  of  death  did  not 
prevent  the  sale  of  salt  by  contraband  dealers,  and  the 
apprehension  of  such  smuggling  furnished  an  excuse  for 
new  abuses.  The  officers  of  the  tax  farmers  not  only 
made  frequent  searches,  but  they  often  seized  government 
salt  under  the  pretext  that  it  was  contraband,  and  against. 
suCti  oppression  an  ignorant  peasant  without  money  had 
neither  defence  nor  redress.  The  gabelle  caused  local 
insurrections  among  the  peasants  almost  as  much  as  the 
taille.' 

In  the  disorders  which  were  excited  or  encouraged  by 
the  Fronde,  contraband  salt  was  often  made  openly. 
Gangs  of  disarmed  soldiers  or  marauders  sold  it,  and  were 
welcome  among  those  oppressed  by  this  duty.  Even  the 
soldiers  in  the  service,  in  default  of  pay,  often  resorted 
to  this  source  of  profit.  An  officer  relates  that  as  his 
troops  were  poorly  paid,  they  sold  contraband  salt  openly 
at  Saint  Valery,  and  the  officers  of  the  gabelle  protested 
in  vain.  Their  commander  approved  of  their  conduct,  as 
they  thus  obtained  subsistence  without  costing  any  thing 
to  the  king,  and  without  oppressing  his  subjects."  An  edict 
declared  in  1646,  that  gentlemen,  soldiers  of  all  conditions,, 
and  the  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  frontiers,  many  of 
them  openly  and  with  arms  in  hand,  sold  contraband  salt,, 
forced  the  warehouses  of  the  gabelle  and  diminished  the 
revenues  by  half.'  Even  using  sea-water  for  cooking  was 
an  offence  demanding  severe  punishment.  It  is  not 
strange,  that  official  documents  show  that  complaints  of 

'  Lettres  de  Richelieu,  v.,  485,  et passim.     Lettres  de  Mazarin,  passim. 

•Mem.  de  Pontis,  6oi,  602. 

•  Ordinance,  Oct.  15,  1646.     lb.,  July  6,  1649. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        379 

frauds  on  the  gabelle  caused  each  year  almost  four  thou- 
sand seizures  in  private  houses,  and  the  arrest  of  four 
thousand  men  and  women,  and  that  over  two  thousand 
people  were  usually  serving  in  prison  for  offences  against 
these  laws.' 

The  other  indirect  duties,  though  imposed  on  a  great 
number  of  objects,  did  not  altogether  yield  as  much  as 
the  gabelle.*  They  also  were  farmed,  and  very  largely  at 
an  inadequate  price.  One  financier  held  a  farm  at  a  cer- 
tain sum  for  twenty-four  years.  At  last  the  government 
demanded  an  increase  of  600,000  livres  in  the  yearly  rent, 
and  he  paid  it  rather  than  abandon  his  contract.'  Mazarin 
wrote  to  Turenne  that  while  the  Duke  of  Bouillon 
claimed  that  he  had  received  100,000  livres  a  year  of  reve- 
nue from  Sedan,  and  though  the  royal  commissioners  had 
estimated  the  revenue  at  75,000,  the  government  did  not 
actually  receive  over  40,000.  But  the  sums  which  the 
king  received,  he  admitted,  were  no  criterion  by  which  to 
judge  what  could  be  collected  by  an  individual  for  his  own 
benefit.* 

A  very  important  question  in  every  government  is  the 
cost  of  collecting  the  revenues,  the  difference  between  the 
sum  which  the  people  pay,  and  that  which  the  treasury 
receives.  What  has  been  said  about  the  financial  meas- 
ures of  this  time  shows,  that  this  must  have  amounted  to 
a  percentage  which  would  now  be  regarded  as  monstrous. 
It  is  impossible  to  do  more  than  give  a  very  rough  guess 
at  what  this  percentage  was.  Enormous  profits  were 
made  by  those  who  farmed  the  taxes,  but  there  is  no 
record  of  the  amount,  except  the  size  of  the  fortunes 
which  were  accumulated.  The  fees  and  profits  of  the 
great  body  of  oflficials,   who   assisted    in    the   collection 

'  Figures  given  in  "  La  Misire  au  Temps  de  la  Fronde."  68.  I  think  the 
true  number  probably  exceeded  the  figures  that  are  here  given. 

•  They  were  so  numerous  that  Guy  Patin  complained  they  would  presently 
impose  the  tax  established  by  Vespasian,  which  in  Paris  would  produce  a. 
large  revenue.     Lettres  de  Patin,  i.,  43. 

•  Tallemant  des  Reaux.  ii.,  36.     Rocher  Portail. 

•  Lettres  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  104. 


380      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

of  the  taille  and  the  duties  which  the  government  did  not 
farm,  mounted  to  a  very  large  sum,  but  no  accurate 
record  was  kept  of  them.  They  seem  to  show  an  entire 
expense  of  about  1 0,000,000  livres,  in  collecting  40,000,000.' 
The  farmers  of  taxes  probably  collected  them  more  cheaply, 
but  this  gain  was  more  than  offset  by  their  own  profits. 
Apart  from  the  additional  loss  caused  by  seizures,  and  sales 
of  property,  and  by  outrages  committed  by  the  tax  offi- 
cers, it  is  safe  to  estimate,  that  under  Richelieu  and  Maz- 
arin,  the  tax-payers  paid  25  per  cent,  more  than  the  gov- 
ernment received,  and  this  is  a  much  smaller  percentage 
than  is  given  by  many  contemporary  writers." 

The  amount  raised  by  these  various  methods  was  not 
sufficient  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  government  during 
this  period.  The  total  cost  of  carrying  on  the  war  was 
from  50,000,000  to  80,000,000  a  year,  and  very  large  sums 
were  paid  for  interest.  Some  items  of  expense  were  in- 
deed very  small.  The  budget  prepared  for  1629  shows  but 
75,000  livres  for  the  posts,  39,000  for  public  institutions, 
and  80,000  for  charities."  But  in  1626,  Richelieu  esti- 
mated that  the  expenses  of  the  government  exceeded  its 
receipts  by  10,000,000,  and  that  it  owed  52,000,000.*  In 
1648,  Colbert  stated  the  debt  at  170,000,000.'  It  was  still 
larger  at  the  close  of  the  maladministration  of  Fouquet. 
These  figures  do  not,  however,  represent  the  actual 
amount  by  which  the  government  was  increasing  its 
charges.  Large  sums  were  raised  every  year  by  the  crea- 
tion  and  sale  of  new  offices,  but  an  office  was  bought,  be- 
cause it  conferred  the  right  to  a  .salary,  or  to  the  collection 
of  fees  or  emoluments  of  some  sort.  Such  creations, 
therefore,  increased  the  permanent  charges  upon  the  peo- 
ple as  much  as  the  issue  of  new  rentes. 

'  Mss.  Arsenal,  4487. 

*  Rapine  :  Relation,  20i.  Archives  Nationales,  K.  K.,  1072,  etc.  Vau- 
ban  in  1700,  estimated  the  expense  of  collection  at  25  per  cent.  (Disme 
Royale  29),  and  it  was  probably  larger  at  this  period. 

*  Comptes  de  Mallet,  Arsenal,  4487.     D'Avenel,  ii.,  447. 

*  Lettres  de  Richelieu,  ii.,  318. 

'  Lettres,  etc.  de  Colbert,  ii.,  17,  et  seij. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND    THE  PEOPLE.        38 1 

Under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin,  the  sums  received  for  the 
sale  of  new  offices  must  have  exceeded  10,000,000  a  year, 
though  the  opposition  of  the  Parliament  produced  a  bene- 
ficial effect  in  diminishing  this  pernicious  source  of  rev- 
enue. The  edicts  under  Richelieu  show  the  greatest  in- 
genuity in  the  creation  of  new  and  imaginary  offices.' 
Examiners  of  paper,  inspectors  of  hogs,  superintendents  of 
hay,  honorary  counsellors,  gentlemen  of  the  chamber, 
masters  of  the  chase,  every  variety  of  office  was  devised, 
and  there  were  many  officials  of  every  class."  It  was  esti- 
mated that  there  were  under  Louis  XIII.  40,000  heredi- 
tary offices.*  Many  positions  were  held  by  three  in- 
cumbents. Each  performed  the  duties  during  one  of 
three  years,  but  all  received  salaries.  Richelieu  says  that 
these  offices  were  sold  at  a  rate  which  practically  cost  the 
government  twelve  per  cent,  on  the  money  it  received.* 

Apart  from  temporary  loans  and  the  creation  of  offices, 
large  amounts  of  rentes  were  issued.  The  rentes  of  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  had  been  created  in  1522  and  constituted 
a  permanent  nationai  debt,  secured  on  various  taxes,  and 
redeemable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  government.  In  1620 
the  interest  charge  was  less  than  3,000,000.  In  1639  it 
amounted  to  over  20,000,000,  and  at  the  end  of  Fouquet's 
administration  it  was  said  to  be  52,000,000.  The  payments 
were  made  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  from  a  list  that  was  fur- 
nished of  the  holders,  and  as  there  was  no  system  for 
identifying  the  persons,  the  owner  of  rentes  would  some- 
times find  that  another  had  answered  to  his  name  when 
called,  and  had  received  the  interest  due.'  But  a  more 
serious  trouble  was  the  failure  of  the  government  to  pay 
any  one. 

The  expenses  caused  by  the  indefinite  creation  of  offices 
are  shown  by  the  fact,  that  on  the  payment  of  16,000,000 

'  D'Avenel,  ii.,  307,  states  the  sum  received  under  Richelieu,  for  the 
sale  of  offices,  at  500,000,000,  but  I  think  the  figures  are  too  high. 

*  The  long  list  of  these  new  creations  can  be  found  in  the  edicts. 

*  Anciennes  Lois  Fran9aises,  1662. 

*  Testament  Politique,  ii.,  167. 

*  Mss.  4487,  Arsenal. 


382       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

livres  of  rentes  in  1648,  the  fees  of  the  officers  charged 
with  the  duty  absorbed  1,600,000.'  Not  over  three  quar- 
ters of  the  amounts  due  for  the  rentes  were  paid  during 
the  later  years  of  Richelieu's  administration,  and  during 
the  troubles  of  the  Fronde  the  rentiers  had  difficulty  in 
obtaining  half  the  sum  that  was  due  them." 

Various  edicts  issued  after  Fouquet's  overthrow  can- 
celled many  rentes  as  fraudulent,  authorized'  the  redemp- 
tion of  others  at  the  price  for  which  they  had  been  issued, 
and  reduced  the  interest  from  nearly  six  per  cent,  to  five 
per  cent.  On  one  issue  of  1,000,000  of  rentes  under  Fou- 
quet,  the  government  had  received  but  100,000.  The 
holders  protested  in  vain  against  measures  which  claimed 
for  their  justification,  the  welfare  of  the  state  and  the 
frauds  attending  the  issue  of  many  of  these  obligations.' 

We  have  considered  the  nature  of  the  government  at 
the  middle  of  the  17th  century,  the  system  of  taxes  by 
which  its  expenses  were  paid,  and  the  financial  straits  to 
which  it  was  driven  by  war  and  insurrection.  The  facts 
that  have  appeared  have  not  indicated  general  prosperity. 
The  condition  of  the  mass  of  the  people  in  France  under 
the  old  regime  was,  at  best,  one  of  little  comfort,  and  at 
worst,  one  of  great  misery.  The  period  of  the  Fronde, 
and  the  years  that  immediately  preceded  and  followed  it, 
were  full  of  suffering  and  distress  for  large  portions  of  the 
French  people.  An  examination  of  the  wages  that  were 
earned,  the  taxes  that  had  to  be  paid,  and  the  amount  of 
the  necessaries  of  life  that  could  be  purchased  with  the 
residue,  will  show  how  poor  was  the  lot  of  the  peasant 
and  the  common  laborer,  even  when  he  was  safe  from 
violence  and  pillage.  Innumerable  contemporary  records 
can  be  produced,  to  show  how  greatly  these  evils  were 
aggravated  by  the  effects  of  war  and  internal  disturban- 
ces. Some  of  these  causes  of  misery  were  only  tempo- 
rary, but  many  of  them  were  permanent,  and  their  result 

'  Reg.  Hotel  de  Ville,  ii.,  436.  '  Reg.  Hotel  de  Ville,  ii.,  425-451. 

'  Journal  de  la  Chambre  de  Justice,  t.  ii,  Anc.  Lois  fran9aises,  xviii.,  69- 
71.     Lettres  de  Colbert,  n.,  passim.     Journal  d'Ormesson,  ii. ,  149-156. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        383 

was  at  last  to  be  the  French  Revolution.  The  condition  of 
the  people  in  a  country  specially  favored  by  climate,  posi- 
tion, and  natural  fertility,  shows  how  unwise  or  corrupt 
government,  the  greed  and  the  selfishness  of  the  classes 
that  have  possession  of  power,  injudicious  laws,  and  in- 
jurious regulations,  can  retard  prosperity  and  cause  misery 
to  multitudes.  An  industrious  and  frugal  people,  in  a  fer. 
tile  and  beautiful  land,  found  poverty  as  its  ordinary  lot. 
To  escape  the  severest  forms  of  need  and  misery,  was  as 
much  as  could  be  expected  by  the  mass  of  the  population. 

I  do  not  intend  to  discuss,  in  this  place,  the  customs  or 
modes  of  life  of  the  social  classes  who  were  raised  above  the 
necessity  of  manual  labor.  These  would  be,  perhaps,  of 
more  interest,  but  the  review  of  any  period  is  very  defec- 
tive which  does  not  indicate  the  condition  of  the  poorer 
•classes,  which  at  this  time  constituted  four  fifths  of  the 
population.  The  material,  from  which  to  describe  their 
condition  fully,  is  difficult  to  find  at  a  time  when  few 
statistics  were  kept,  but  a  fairly  accurate  idea  of  it  can  be 
gained. 

No  census  of  the  French  population  had  as  yet  been 
taken,  and  the  estimates  that  were  made  from  time  to 
time  were  necessarily  exceedingly  loose.  People  ordinarily 
overestimate  the  population  of  their  own  country  or  city. 
Between  1640  and  1650  it  was  calculated  by  some,  that 
France  contained  40,000,000,  and  even  60,000,000  inhab- 
itants.* Paris  was  estimated  to  have  900,000  people  by 
a  very  intelligent  magistrate,  who  lived  there  all  his  life, 
and  the  Gazette,  in  1636,  said  that  it  had  1,000,000.' 
Such  figures  are  enormously  exaggerated.  The  enumera- 
tion prepared  by  the  superintendents  towards  1700  showed 
the  population  of  the  provinces  which  composed  France  in 
1640  at  16,300,000.*  Alsace  was  added  in  1648,  and  Rous- 
sillon  and  Artois  were  added  by  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees.  V 
While   the   condition   of    the   country   seems  poor    and 

'  Mss.  Godefroy,  cxxx.,  260. 

•  Journal  d'Olivier  d'Onnesson,  610,  in  1649.     GautU,  1636,  558. 

'See  table  printed  by  d'Avenel,  ii.,  430,  431. 


384       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

squalid  when  we  compare  it  with  France  of  to-day,  it  ap- 
peared prosperous  to  those  who  compared  it  with  other 
countries  at  that  time.  When  Mazarin  crossed  the  Alps 
in  1630  he  was  impressed  by  the  populousness  of  France.* 
Richelieu  boasted  in  1622  that  France  had  so  many  men, 
that  foreign  cities  compared  with  hers  seemed  like  deserts.* 
In  1657,  when  the  country  had  rallied  somewhat  from  its 
depressed  condition  during  the  Fronde,  it  seemed  not  only 
beautiful,  but  populous,  to  travellers  who  lived  in  Holland. 
These  travellers  saw,  however,  only  Paris  and  the  country 
between  that  city  and  Calais.'  Over  forty  years  later, 
when  the  wars  of  Louis  XIV.  and  the  persecutions  of  the 
Huguenots  were  enfeebling  the  kingdom,  Vauban  esti- 
mated its  population  at  19,000,000,  but  others  estimated 
it  as  low  as  15,000,000.*  I  think  that  the  average  popu- 
lation of  France  during  the  administration  of  Mazarin  was 
about  16,000,000  people. 

It  is  equally  difficult  to  ascertain  accurately  the  popula- 
tion of  Paris.  Under  Henry  II.,  a  century  before  this 
time,  it  seems  to  have  been  from  300,000  to  350,000.  A 
rough  enumeration  under  Richelieu  made  it  somewhat  over 
400,000.  In  1657  the  Dutch  embassador  investigated  the 
question,  and  concluded  that  Paris  contained  30,000  houses 
and  600,000  people.*  Vauban,  in  1700,  estimated,  how- 
ever, that  the  city  had  only  24,000  houses,  but  had  a  pop- 
ulation of  720,000.*  Judging  from  such  data  as  we  pos- 
sess, Paris  by  1655  had  at  least  500,000  inhabitants. 

The  majority  of  the  French  people  at  this  time  were 
engaged  in  agriculture.  The  development  of  manufac- 
tures and  the  changes  produced  by  modern  inventions 
have  largely  increased  the  percentage  of  the  population 
which  lives  in  cities.  The  wages  of  the  ordinary  French 
laborer  of  this  period  were  not  only  subject  to  the  usual 
fluctuations,  but  variations  existed  in  the  different  por- 

'  See  his  letter  of  Feb.  14,  1630.       Jeunesse  de  Mazarin,  196. 

'  Mem.,  i.,  260.  ^  Journal  d'un  Voyage,  22,  etc. 

*  Disme  Royale,  Int.,  20.  *  Journal  d'un  Voyage,  249. 

'  Disme  Royale,  76. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        385 

tions  of  France  much  greater  than  could  now  be  found. 
Where  the  peasant  was  born  he  usually  lived  and  died, 
and  to  move  from  Normandy  to  Touraine  or  from  Picardy 
to  Poitou  was  an  undertaking  more  difficult  than  it  would 
now  be  to  cross  the  Atlantic.  The  wages  of  a  day 
laborer  at  farm  work  averaged  from  six  to  nine  sous.  A 
woman  would  not  receive  more  than  half  as  much.'  In 
i/CXD  the  wages  of  such  laborers  are  stated  at  nine  sous  in 
harvest  time,  and  not  over  eight  sous  at  other  seasons, 
and  there  had  been  a  considerable  appreciation  of  prices 
within  fifty  years."  Taking  seven  sous  as  an  average,  that 
would  be  fourteen  cents,  or  in  equivalent  value  forty-two 
cents  a  day.  Those  most  employed  would  not  usually 
work  over  200  days  a  year,  after  deducting  Sundays  and 
feast  days.*  An  income  of  seventy  livres,  one  hundred 
and  forty  francs,  twenty-eight  dollars,  or  in  relative  value 
eighty  dollars,  would  be  above,  rather  than  below,  that  of 
the  most  of  the  peasants.  Richelieu  said  that  he  would 
pay  a  man  to  work  on  a  canal  on  his  grounds  one  hundred 
livres  a  year,  and  for  that  he  could  live  well.*  It  was  an 
amount  undoubtedly  larger  than  would  be  received  by  most 
laborers  of  that  sort.  It  was  upon  this  class  that  the  taxes 
fell.  "  The  taille  falls  only  on  the  peasants  and  the  misera- 
ble," one  of  Colbert's  officers  wrote  him.  "  Those  who  have 
credit  escape."  '  The  average  amount  of  the  gabelle,  the 
taille,  and  the  support  of  troops,  was  nine  livres  in  the 
provinces  subject  to  the  full  weight  of  both  taxes,  and  we 
must  multiply  this  by  four  to  reach  the  average  amount 
paid  even  by  a  small  family.  The  violence  often  attending 
the  collection  of  these  taxes  has  been  referred  to.  "  Those 
who  collect  the  taille,"  the  Lieutenant  of  Orleans  wrote,^ 
"are  such  terrible  animals  that  a  great  portion  of  them 

'  Figures  given  by  Monteil  from  Mss,  in  his  possession.  Figures  showing 
that  these  were  average  prices  can  be  found  stated  incidentally  in  many 
papers  and  memoirs  of  the  period. 

•  Disme  Royale,  95-8. 

•  Forbonnais  :  "  Recherches  sur  les  Finances." 

*  Let.  de  Richelieu,  iv.,  304-306. 

*  Pellot.  Supt.  to  Colbert,  Cor.  Administrative  sous  Louis  XIV.,  iii.,  i,  2. 


386      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

ought  to  be  exterminated."  '  Considering  these  condi- 
tions during  the  heavy  taxation  and  distress  of  war,  one 
half  that  a  family  earned  must  often  have  been  consumed 
by  taxes. 

The  wages  of  artisans  were  somewhat  higher.  They 
are  stated  to  have  averaged  twelve  sous  in  1700,  and 
probably  averaged  ten  sous  at  this  time.  This  would 
give  an  income  that  would  be  equivalent  to  $120  or  over. 
Skilful  cutters,  weavers,  locksmiths,  and  other  superior 
artisans  commanded  considerably  higher  wages.*  The 
artisans  also  suffered  much  less  from  the  taille.  Many 
cities  contributed  little  or  nothing  to  this  tax,  and  some 
handicrafts  were  exempt  from  it. 

Domestic  servants  were  numerous  from  the  great  num- 
bers employed  by  people  of  wealth.  There  were  probably 
at  least  a  million  and  a  half  serving  in  various  capacities. 
Twenty  livres  a  year  was  small  pay  for  them,  and  they 
had  food  and  lodging  besides.  They  were  little  troubled 
by  the  tax  gatherers,  for  the  exemption  of  the  head  of  an 
establishment  usually  protected  his  domestics.  A  valet 
receiving  sixty  livres  a  year,  the  equivalent  of  about 
seventy  dollars,  was  regarded  as  largely  paid.* 

Though  such  wages  seem  low,  the  prices  of  all  other 
things  were,  of  course,  much  lower  than  now.  They  were 
not  so  low,  however,  that  the  earnings  of  the  most  of  the 
population  amounted  to  more  than  starvation  wages. 
The  average  wages  of  a  laborer  were  seven  sous,  or 
fourteen  cents  a  day.  The  sum  that  was  allowed  for  the 
food  of  a  soldier  per  day  was  three  sous  three  deniers,  or 
about  six  and  one  half  cents.  For  a  sailor  there  was 
allowed  four  sous  six  deniers.*  This,  however,  was  some 
years  later,  and  it  was  the  amount  paid  the  captain  for 
furnishing  rations  to  the  sailors,  on  which  doubtless  he 

•  Courbeville  to  Colbert.  Id.,  363.  The  evils  and  abuses  of  taxation  can 
be  found  fully  stated  in  the  official  correspondence  of  the  time.  We  are 
not  obliged  to  take  them  from  the  complaints  of  the  taxed  or  the  remon- 
strances of  local  States.  '  Disme  Royale,  92-4. 

*  Tallemant  i.,  249.  Monteil.  Disme  Royale,  82.  D'Avenel,  t.  ii., 
tables  in  appendix,  4.  *  Lettres  et  Inst,  de  Colbert,  iii.,  728. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF   THE  PEOPLE.         387 

was  expected  to  make  a  profit.  But  at  that  price,  the 
cost  of  the  rations  of  two  people  would  absorb  a  laborer's 
entire  wages. 

The  most  important  item  of  consumption  is  bread,  and 
the  price  of  wheat  ordinarily  attracts  most  attention.  The 
fluctuations  in  its  price  during  this  period  were  rapid  and 
great.  Wheat  in  Paris,  from  161 5  to  1630,  averaged  2^ 
livres  or  5^  francs,  or  nearly  one  dollar  per  bushel.  From 
1630  to  1643  the  average  price  was  three  livres  or  as  much 
as  one  dollar  and  fifteen  cents  per  bushel.'  These  prices 
continued  about  the  same,  except  as  they  were  affected 
by  bad  crops  or  military  disturbances.  In  1649  the  best 
wheat  sold  at  a  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents,  and  rye  for 
eighty  cents ; '  in  1658  it  was  selling  at  ninety  cents  in  the 
country ;  *  in  1660  for  about  one  dollar  and  five  cents  at 
Paris.*  But  these  prices  at  times  rose  with  great  rapidity. 
Wheat  was  selling  in  Paris  at  thirteen  livres  the  setier  in 
January,  1649,  and  eleven  days  later  it  was  selling  at 
thirty  livres,  and  for  a  few  days  in  March  it  sold  at  sixty 
livres  or  nearly  five  dollars  a  bushel.  This,  however,  was 
when  the  king  was  endeavoring  to  cut  off  the  supplies 
from  the  city,  and  does  not,  perhaps,  furnish  an  accurate 
criterion.  Peace  was  made  in  March,  but  the  crop  of  1649 
was  bad.  The  price  again  rose  rapidly,  and  wheat  was 
purchased  for  Paris  at  twenty-one  livres  the  setier  or  three 
dollars  and  a  quarter  per  bushel.'  There  was  a  bad  crop  in 
1630,  and  the  failure  of  the  crop  soon  produced  a  famine. 
A  very  inferior  article  of  wheat  had  been  selling  at  seven 
livres  the  setier,  and  in  fifteen  days  it  sold  at  nineteen.* 

'  These  prices  are  taken  from  the  mercuriales  of  Paris  or  official  reports 
of  the  sales  at  the  regular  Paris  markets.  Archives  Nationales,  K.  K.,  986- 
ggi.  In  reducing  them  to  our  measures,  the  setier,  the  measure  then  used, 
is  calculated  at  no  kilogrammes,  and  our  pound  at  453  grains.  The  livre 
of  that  time  is  estimated  at  two  francs,  its  present  money  value,  and  the 
figures  given  are  the  actual  money  equivalents  without  any  reference  to  the 
relative  values  of  the  same  amount  of  money. 

'Journal  d'Ormesson,  i.,  631.  *  Lettres  dc  Colliert,  i.,  309,  et  seq. 

*  Traite  de  la  Police,  ii.,  1021. 

*  Registres  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville,  ii.,  405-425. 

*  Assemblee  au  Chaielet,  Dec.  12,  1630.     Traite  de  la  Police,  ii.,  1016. 


388       FRANCE  UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

The  Parliament  of  Normandy  forbade  the  removal  of 
wheat  from  that  province,  and  the  Paris  merchants  in 
December  were  seeking  for  it  in  Picardy  and  Champagne, 
where  it  was  said  to  be  abundant.  A  still  worse  failure 
of  the  crops  occurred  in  1660  and  1661.  In  June,  1660, 
wheat  was  selling  at  thirteen  livres  ten  sous  the  setier, 
or  about  five  and  a  half  francs,  or  one  dollar  and  ten 
cents  a  bushel.  In  a  few  days  it  was  selling  at  thirty- 
four  livres  the  setier.  The  government,  as  usual,  forbade 
any  exportation,  issued  ordinances  against  the  merchants 
who  were  claimed  to  be  storing  wheat  and  making  an  un- 
conscionable profit,  and  bought  large  amounts  for  the  use 
of  the  city.  In  September  it  had  fallen  to  eighteen  livres, 
but  after  the  bad  crop  of  1661  it  reached  fifty  livres  the 
setier,  or  about  four  dollars  and  twenty  cents  a  bushel. 
Bread  sold  at  five  cents  a  pound.  In  April,  1662,  the 
government  imported  a  large  amount  and  sold  it  to  the 
citizens  at  a  little  over  eleven  francs,  or  about  two  dollars 
and  fifteen  cents  a  bushel.' 

The  average  prices  that  have  been  given  are  the  prices 
at  Paris,  and  for  the  best  quality  of  wheat.  Wheat  usually 
sold  higher  there,  than  in  many  parts  of  the  country  where 
the  cost  of  transportation  was  less.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  there  was  any  scarcity,  wheat  was  transported  to 
Paris  rather  than  to  some  remote  province,  where  the  roads 
were  almost  impassable  and  the  amount  of  the  demand  was 
uncertain.  The  artisan  of  Rheims  or  Poitiers  who  in  one 
year  paid  less  for  his  loaf  than  the  shopkeeper  of  Paris, 
might  in  the  next  year  have  to  pay  more. 

Fifty  years  later,  Vauban  gives  seven  livres  the  setier,  or 
three  francs  a  bushel,  as  the  price  for  the  wheat  which  the 
weaver  would  mix  with  rye  to  make  his  loaf.  He  could, 
however,  only  have  meant  the  inferior  wheat  grown  with 
rye,  which  always  sold  in  the  Paris  market  at  about  twenty 
per  cent,  below  the  price  of  good  quality  wheat.  He  esti- 
mates the  rye,  for  the  other  half  of  the  loaf,  at  over  two 

'Ordinances,  etc.,  for  that  period  contained  in  Traite  de  la  Police,  ii.» 
1021-1033. 


THE  ADMINISTRA  TION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        389 

francs  the  bushel.'  A  gradual  increase  in  the  price  of  grain 
is  seen  during  this  period.  There  was  some  depreciation 
in  the  value  of  money,  and  the  large  amount  of  land  that 
was  left  desolate  from  the  results  of  war  and  pillage  must 
have  had  some  effect.  But  it  is  apparent  that  the  price  of 
grain  since  then  has  appreciated  much  less  than  that  of 
many  articles.  While  it  is,  I  think,  an  under-estimate  to 
say  that  the  money  wages  received  for  labor  are  three 
times  as  high  now  as  they  were  then,  the  price  of  a  bushel 
of  wheat  has  appreciated,  if  we  take  the  figures  of  the  last 
few  years,  less  than  fifty  per  cent.  There  has  been  a 
greater  increase  than  fifty  per  cent,  in  the  price  of  the 
bread  the  laborer  buys,  but  that  is  because  the  loaf  is  more 
palatable,  more  wholesome,  and  more  nourishing,  than 
that  eaten  by  his  ancestors  under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin. 

Nor  was  the  relatively  higher  price  of  wheat  of  advan- 
tage to  the  agriculturalist.  The  figures  furnished  by  the 
French  government  show  that  the  average  production  of 
wheat  per  acre  has  doubled  since  the  time  of  Vauban. 
From  1635  to  1660,  the  total  amount  grown  must  have 
been  less  than  could  have  been  raised  even  by  the  appli- 
ances of  that  time,  in  a  season  of  peace  and  tranquillity. 
The  study  of  the  leases  of  various  properties  during  a  long 
term  of  years  leads  to  the  conclusion,  that  while  the  six- 
teenth century  in  France  was  a  period  of  increasing  pros- 
perity and  agricultural  progress,  the  seventeenth  century, 
after  1610,  showed  only  a  stationary  condition,  if  not  in- 
deed actual  decadence.' 

Rye  usually  sold  for  a  little  over  half  the  price  of  wheat, 
and  oats  somewhat  higher  than  rye.  The  average  prices 
from  1630  to  1643  at  Paris  were  about  seventy  cents 
for  rye  and  eighty  cents  for  oats.  Barley  sold  for 
about  half  the  price  of  wheat.'  Enormous  variations  in 
price  existed  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  when  there 

'  Disme  Royale,  98.     The  price  of  wheat  had,  however,  fallen  somewhat 
when  compared  with  the  period  from  1640  to  1660. 
•Revue  Archeologique  de  Sens.,  vi.,  150,-191. 
*  Let.  de  Colbert  in  1658. 


390      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

had  been  a  short  crop  in  some  sections.  The  abundance 
of  one  province  was  with  difficulty  and  great  expense  sent 
to  reUeve  the  need  of  another.  In  1693  wheat  was  selling 
for  24  livres  the  setier  at  Paris,  and  1 1  livres  at  Nantes.' 
The  price  of  wheat  at  Limoges  usually  varied  twenty-five 
per  cent,  from  that  at  Poitiers.  The  places  are  not  one 
hundred  miles  distant. 

Veal  and  mutton  in  1640  sold  at  5  sous  or  10  cents 
a  pound  at  Paris,  and  chicken  was  higher.*  The  average 
price  was  perhaps  7  or  8  cents.  In  the  provinces  veal  and 
mutton  were  somewhat  cheaper,  but  they  were  still  beyond 
the  reach  of  a  laborer  who  earned  14  cents  a  day.  The 
peasant  could  buy  a  work-horse  for  25  livres  or  50  francs. 
A  horse  for  driving  sold  for  four  times  that  amount.*  A 
donkey  sold  for  9  livres,  and  a  pair  of  shoes  could  be 
bought  for  12  sous  or  25  cents.*  Measuring  these  figures 
by  the  wages  of  labor,  and  taking  the  prices  of  average 
years,  a  bushel  of  wheat  would  cost  seven  days  of  the  work 
of  an  ordinary  laborer,  a  bushel  of  rye  five  days,  a  bushel 
of  oats  five  and  a  half  days,  a  bushel  of  barley  over  three 
days,  a  pound  of  mutton  half  a  day,  a  pair  of  shoes  almost 
two  days,  a  horse  for  plowing  would  cost  perhaps  seventy- 
five  days.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  purchasing 
power  of  the  average  wages  for  a  day  of  labor  in  France 
has  greatly  increased. 

Wheat  flour  was  a  luxury  far  above  the  reach  of  peas- 
ants and  laborers.  It  was  indeed  a  luxury  for  all,  and  lit- 
tle bread  that  was  eaten  would  now  be  regarded  as  white 
bread,  or  consumed  by  those  accustomed  to  ordinary  com- 
fort. The  bread  that  was  eaten  by  laborers  was  made  of 
barley  and  oats,  from  which  the  bran  had  not  been  re- 
moved.' A  loaf  of  such  bread  sold  at  about  8  deniers  or 
a  cent  and  a  quarter.  Five  sorts  of  bread  were  made  at 
Paris  ;  two  called  wheat  bread,  two  moderately  white,  or 

'  Correspondance  des  controleurs  generaux.  This  was  in  a  time  of 
famine.  '  Arret  du  Parl't,  March,  1640. 

*  In  1650,  Mss.  Godefroy,  132,  Tarif  du  Conseil  du  Roi,  1641. 

*  Tables,  App.  4,  t.  ii.,  D'Avenel.     Tariffs  for  1640  and  1641. 

*  Oisivetes :   Vauban. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        39 1 

bourgeois  bread,  and  one  still  poorer,  called  black  bread, 
which  was  eaten  by  most.  The  bread  eaten  by  a  regu- 
larly employed  weaver  would  be  half  wheat  and  half  rye.* 
Bread  prepared  for  the  army  was  directed  to  be  made  of 
two  portions  of  barley  to  one  of  wheat.' 

The  consumption  of  wheat  was  then  much  less  than  now. 
The  amount  of  wheat  produced  in  France  has  increased 
in  a  much  larger  ratio  than  its  population.  But  at  this  time, 
wheat,  except  in  years  of  famine,  and  except  as  affected 
by  commercial  regulations,  was  one  of  the  largest  ex- 
ports.*    France  has  now  long  been  a  large  importer. 

Meat  was  rarely  eaten  by  peasants  and  laborers.*  The 
houses  in  the  country  in  which  they  lived  were  sometimes 
of  wood,  but  more  often  of  mud.  Many  had  no  chim- 
neys. Any  sort  of  lamps  or  candles  were  little  used, 
and  gave  little  light.  The  inhabitants  were  always  dirty, 
usually  ragged,  and  often  hungry. 

In  1625  France  consumed  25,000,000  livres  of  sugar  per 
year.*  It  sold  for  about  10  sous  a  pound  or  as  much  in 
relative  value  as  3  francs  or  60  cents  a  pound  now,  and 
it  was  of  course  used  by  few.  A  pound  of  sugar,  like  a 
pound  of  salt,  could  only  be  earned  by  a  day  and  a  half 
of  labor.  The  average  consumption  in  that  country  was 
then  a  pound  and  a  half  per  capita,  and  is  now  over  seven- 
teen pounds.  Two  million  pounds  of  tobacco  were  con- 
sumed.' The  ordinance  which  imposed  a  prohibitory  tax 
of  30  sous  a  pound  on  all  which  did  not  come  from  cer- 
tain French  settlements,  declared  that  the  king's  subjects 
by  reason  of  its  cheapness  were  using  it  at  all  hours,  to 
the  great  prejudice  of  their  health.'  It  was,  however, 
used  by  few,  and  regarded  as  a  vulgar  habit.  The  con- 
sumption has  increased  since   then   160  fold.'     Notwith- 

'  Disme  Royale,  98. 

*  Lettres  de  Colliert,  i. ,  309. 

*  Vauban  classes  it  with  wine.     Disme  Royale,  27. 

*  In  1760  the  consumption  of  meat  in  Lorraine  was  stated  not  to  be  over 
a  pound  per  month  to  a  person.     Zulestein.  "  Mem.  sur.  la  Lorraine,"  1762. 

'Let  de  Richelieu,  ii.,  165,  166.  •  lb. 

'  Anciennes  Lois  Fran9aises,  xvi.,  347.  •  D'Avenel,  ii.,  267. 


392       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Standing  the  endeavor  then  made  to  compel  a  large  use  of 
salt,  the  average  amount  consumed  by  the  individual  is 
now  four  times  as  much  as  then.'  The  price  of  wine  was 
comparatively  moderate,  but  the  average  consumption  is 
now  nearly  one  half  more  than  it  was  then." 

That  ignorance  was  almost  universal  among  the  lower 
classes  is  well  known.  In  165 1,  in  the  village  of  Cirey, 
there  was  no  one  who  could  read  or  write.  In  the  parish 
of  Montacher,  there  were  only  four  of  the  inhabitants  who 
knew  enough  to  sign  their  names.'  Little  more  educa- 
tion was  found  among  those  who  were  better  circumstanced 
than  the  peasantry.  Those  employed  in  bringing  chickens, 
eggs,  and  other  provisions  to  Paris,  presented  their  peti- 
tion, in  which  they  stated  that  the  majority  of  the  sup- 
pliants could  not  read  or  write,  and  they  asked  to  be 
allowed  to  employ  clerks  who  could  sign  receipts  in  their 
names.^  Few  valets  or  servants  could  read  or  write.  Some 
men  made  a  living  by  acting  as  writers  for  this  class,  and 
charged  them  from  five  to  twenty  sous  for  writing  a 
letter  for  them,  depending  upon  the  elevation  of  style 
that  was  required." 

The  sum  which  the  government  appropriated  in  1639  for 
public  instruction  was  only  thirty-nine  thousand  livres. 
Education  was  in  the  hands  of  the  colleges  and  the 
clergy,  and  the  administration  paid  no  attention  to  it. 
Richelieu  said  that  the  number  of  colleges  was  already 
too  great.  It  encouraged  the  poorest  to  have  their  chil- 
dren study,  so  that  few  would  be  left  for  trade  and  war, 
which  were  the  occupations  that  built  up  great  states.* 

Great  forests  still  covered  large  portions  of  France,  and 
the  game  that  was  carefully  preserved  for  hunting,  often 

'  lb.,  289. 

'  Mss.,  1428.  Fleury  Bib.  Nat.  Statistics  of  France  for  1881. 

*  Memoir  published  in  Bulletin  archeologique  de  Sens.  "  Ont  declare  les 
dits  habitants  ne  savoir  signer,  a  rexception  de  quatre." 

*  Ordinance,  May  17,  1623. 

*  Journal  d'un  Voyage  i  Paris,  1657,  46,  47. 

*  Lettres  de  Richelieu,  ii.,  i8(.  Similar  objections  against  having  too 
many  schools  are  found  in  the  Mercure  for  1624,  426. 


THE  ADMINISTRATIOX  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        393 

destroyed  the  crop  of  the  peasant.  The  peasants  could 
chase  these  animals  from  their  fields  with  stones,  but  only 
upon  the  condition  that  they  should  not  injure  them.'  As 
late  as  the  States-General  of  1789,  numerous  complaints 
are  found  in  the  cahiers,  that  beasts  were  preferred  to  men. 

The  condition  of  the  people  had  been  very  prosperous 
under  Henry  IV.  The  natural  reaction  that  follows 
a  long  period  of  disturbance  was  assisted  by  allowing  a 
free  export  of  grain,  by  judicious  aid  to  manufacturers, 
and  by  large  reductions  in  taxation.  A  contemporary 
declared  that  the  recollection  of  1609  was  delightful 
to  him  ;  that  the  peasants  then  tilled  their  fields  with- 
out disturbance  from  soldiers  or  tax-gatherers ;  they 
had  comfortable  furniture,  sufficient  food,  and  were  in 
no  danger  of  having  their  beds  sold  from  under  them ; 
there  was  no  complaint  of  excessive  impositions,  and  no 
parish  was  pillaged  by  men  at  war.  "  Such  "  he  says, 
"  was  the  end  of  the  reign  of  the  good  king,  and  the  be- 
ginning of  infinite  evils.'" 

After  his  death,  this  improvement  was  checked,  if  not 
altogether  lost.  The  peasant's  lot  was  worse  under 
Louis  XIV.  than  under  Henry  IV.  It  has  been  claimed, 
and  is  probably  true,  that  the  increase  in  the  small 
ownerships  of  land  under  Henry  was  lost  during  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  and  the  Fronde.'  It  is  certain  that 
little  of  the  land  was  then  owned  by  the  peasants. 

The  frequent  overflows  of  the  rivers  produced  great 
damage,  and  they  seem  to  have  been  very  numerous  at 
this  period.  But  thirty-two  inundations  were  noticed  from 
1600  to  1 610,  and  forty-eight  from  1649.  to  1659.*  The 
Seine,  the  Rhone,  the  Loire,  the  Marne,  the  Garonne,  and 

'  Article  137  of  Ordinance  of  Orleans.      *  Mem.  de  Marolles,  i.,  19-24. 

'  This  statement  is  made  by  Michelet,  but  he  gives  no  statistics  by  which 
to  prove  it.  M.  Feillet  adopts  it  on  Michelet's  authority.  I  think  such 
must  h.ive  been  the  result  of  the  condition  of  affairs,  but  I  have  not  been 
so  fortunate  as  to  find  satisfactory  statistics. 

*  Champion  :  "  Ilistoiredeslnondations  en  France,"  t.  vi.,  tables.  But  the 
lack  of  records  prevents  these  figures  from  being  certain.  There  were  many 
more  in  both  periods. 


394       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

most  of  the  important  rivers  of  France  contributed 
more  or  less  to  such  calamities.  The  lack  of  retaining- 
walls  or  levees  usually  left  the  low  streets  of  the  cities  in 
danger  of  being  flooded  by  any  considerable  rise  in  the 
rivers.  At  the  overflow  of  the  Seine  at  Paris,  in  1658,  it 
was  said  that  one  could  have  rowed  for  some  distance 
along  the  Rue  Saint  Honor^.'  The  country  was  even 
more  exposed,  and  the  freshets  often  carried  away  the 
roads  and  the  crops  together.' 

Though  the  cities  had  suffered  less  than  the  open  coun- 
try, many  of  them  were  heavily  in  debt  at  the  end  of  the 
wars  with  Germany  and  Spain  ;  their  industries,  which  had 
developed  during  some  portions  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  under  Henry  IV.  were  crippled  and  often  destroyed. 
In  addition  to  that  most  of  them  had  incurred  debts,  not 
for  their  own  uses,  but  to  avoid  some  of  the  evils  of  war. 
Tours  owed  500,000  livres,  a  sum  which  would  be  equiva- 
lent to  a  debt  of  over  half  a  million  dollars  now.  It  had  also 
conveyed  to  the  government  the  octroi  duties,  from  which 
its  expenses  would  usually  be  defrayed,  that  it  might  be 
freed  from  the  duty  imposed  for  the  sustenance  of  soldiers.* 
Many  places  had  in  like  manner  been  forced  to  convey 
their  octroi  duties  to  the  government,  and  though  they 
were  allowed  to  provide  for  their  own  needs  by  the  simple 
process  of  doubling  the  octroi,  such  a  remedy  increased 
the  price  of  food  so  greatly  that  it  usually  was  not 
adopted.* 

Amboise  was  a  poor  town,  and  subsisted  only  from  such 
travel  as  went  through  it.  But  its  advantage  of  position 
had  been  its  ruin,  for  the  troops  had  frequently  passed 
through  during  the  war.  It  owed  15,000  livres,  borrowed 
to  pay  for  the  subsistence  of  some  prisoners  taken  at 
Rocroi.'  A  more  severe  case  was  that  of  Beaune,  a  little 
city,  whose  population  is  not  much  over   10,000  now,  and 

>  lb.,  t.  i.,  86. 

•  Rapport  au  Roi  sur  la  Province  de  Touraine,  1664,  104-108. 

•  Rapport  au  Roi  sur  la  Province  de  Touraine,  1664. 

•  Lettres  de  Colbert,  iv.,  27  '  Rapport  au  Roi  133-5- 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE   PEOPLE.        395 

was  undoubtedly  less  then.  This  place  had  incurred  a 
debt  of  560,000  livres  during  the  war,  its  ordinary  revenues 
having  been  taken  by  the  government.  These  are  not 
exceptional  instances,  but  are  illustrations  of  the  condition 
of  a  great  number  of  the  French  cities,  both  large  and  small. 

In  them  was  also  found  another  evil  that  resulted  from 
the  multiplication  of  offices.  The  expenses  and  fees  of  the 
various  local  officers  consumed  what  the  towns  raised  for 
public  purposes.  Debts  accumulated,  the  interest  was 
unpaid,  and  bridges,  streets,  and  roads  were  neglected 
and  left  to  perish.'  The  town  of  Chatellerault  had  become 
involved  in  200,000  livres  of  debt,  and  as  it  could  not  be 
collected,  the  mayor  and  assessor  were  several  times  im- 
prisoned by  the  creditors  in  their  endeavors  to  obtain  pay- 
ment.' 

Though  the  peasants  now  suffered  more  from  the  taxa- 
tion imposed  by  the  general  government  than  from  feudal 
dues,  many  petty  feudal  rights  still  existed,  some  of  which 
were  vexatious,  and  some  of  which  were  oppressive.  The 
seigneur  in  many  places  still  retained  an  authority  which 
was  often  abused.  In  the  descriptions  of  prominent  noble- 
men, which  were  furnished  the  government  by  thesuperin- 
tendertts,  the  entry  is  frequent — "  He  beats  the  peasants."  * 
Such  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  ordinary  manifesta- 
tions of  a  violent  temper.  Even  those  who  had  reached 
the  position  of  prosperous  farmers  were  not  safe  from 
outrage.  A  farmer  of  Poitou  was  worth  6,000  crowns,  and 
some  gentleman  resolved  to  marry  his  youngest  son  to 
the  farmer's  daughter.  He  accordingly  rode  over  to  the 
farm,  accompanied  by  200  followers,  to  seize  the  girl  and 
have  the  marriage  performed  forthwith.  But  she  and 
her  father  had  left,  and  in  his  rage  at  this  the  gentle- 
man and  his  party  pillaged  the  house,  and  carried  off  the 
farmer's  wife.* 

'  Rapport  sur  la  Touraine,  138,  139.  The  condition  of  Touraine  at  this 
time  should  have  been  no  worse  than  that  of  the  most  of  France,  and  it 
probably  was  no  worse.  *  Histoire  de  Chatellerault,  Salanne. 

*  See  Rapports  sur  Poitou,  and  sur  Touraine, /aj.n>n. 

*  Rapport  au  Roi  sur  Poitou,  145. 


396       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

For  such  acts  of  violence  committed  on  inferiors  there 
was  no  redress.  A  day  laborer  had  no  money  to  prose- 
cute the  gentleman  who  broke  his  whip  over  his  head, 
and  if  he  had,  it  would  have  done  him  no  good.  The  in- 
fluence of  a  nobleman  with  the  courts  and  officers  of 
justice  would  be  sufficient  to  defeat  a  prosecution,  started 
by  some  man  who  possessed  neither  wealth  nor  pedigree. 
It  was  felt  that  the  right  to  beat  one's  peasantry,  occasion- 
ally, ran  with  the  land,  and  if  a  gentleman  with  hasty  temper 
sometimes  exercised  it  with  too  much  violence,  it  could 
not  be  regarded  as  a  serious  offence.  The  peasants,  wrote 
Ferron  de  Colbert,  in  1658,  wished  to  see  the  authority  of 
the  king  fully  established,  that  it  might  relieve  them  from 
the  grievous  tyranny  of  the  seigneurs.' 

To  small  pay,  heavy  taxation,  poor  crops,  flood,  famine, 
and  all  that  ground  down  the  poor,  were  added  the  devas- 
tations of  war.  One  might  content  himself  with  saying 
that  disorder  and  misery  were  found  through  large  por- 
tions of  France,  but  a  general  statement  such  as  that  con- 
veys little  idea  of  the  wretchedness  that  existed.  It  is 
easy  also  to  exaggerate  in  summing  up  the  condition  of 
the  people,  and  the  facts  can  only  appear  satisfactorily 
by  collecting  a  variety  of  contemporary  accounts,  made  in 
different  years,  and  in  different  parts  of  the  country." 

The  little  city  of  Laon,  occupying  a  commanding  po- 
sition, and  with  an  ancient  and  interesting  cathedral,  is 
about  ninety  miles  northeast  of  Paris.  Near  it  is  the 
small  and  unimportant  place  of  Marie,  and  around  are  the 
various  towns  that  compose  the  diocese.  They  were  un- 
fortunately situated,  lying  between  Paris  and  the  Low 
Countries,  not  far  from   Rocroi,  Lens,  and  many  great 

'  /f.,  135.  The  above  statements  are  founded  on  the  reports  made  to  the 
king  of  the  conditions  of  various  provinces.  Allowing  for  the  natural  ten- 
dency of  those  submitting  reports  to  Colbert,  I  think  their  complaints  of 
violence,  perpetrated  by  some  gentlemen  upon  their  peasantry,  are  well 
founded. 

'  Many  of  the  records  to  which  I  shall  refer  have  been  collected  and 
printed  by  the  research  of  M.  Feillet  in  "La  Misire  au  Temps  de  la 
Fronde." 


THE  ADMINISTRA  TION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        397 

battle-fields.  A  notary  of  Marie  registered  with  the  dry- 
ness of  a  legal  document,  from  1636  to  1665,  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  his  town  in  the  foreign  and  domestic  wars.  He 
furnishes  an  accurate  history  of  the  lot  of  the  inhabitants 
of  this  place  during  that  period.  At  the  invasion  of  Corbie, 
in  1636,  the  Spanish  captured  the  chateau  of  Marfontaine 
near  by,  and  took  a  large  amount  of  booty,  grain,  horses, 
and  other  animals.  .  Fifteen  men  and  women  were  killed 
by  them,  and  the  enemy  marched  within  six  miles  of  Marie. 
At  this,  the  women  and  girls  fled  from  the  town  and  re- 
mained away  for  three  months.  The  expense  of  this,  we 
are  told  by  the  notary,  who  usually  reduced  the  misfor- 
tunes of  his  town  to  a  money  basis,  was  estimated  at 
twenty  thousand  livres.  The  village  and  abbey  of  Claire- 
fontaine  near  by  were  burned  and  destroyed.'  In  August 
the  pest  raged  at  Marie  and  continued  until  December. 
Four  hundred  people  died,  and  the  expense  was  eight 
thousand  livres.'  In  November  a  garrison  was  placed  in 
the  town  and  remained  until  June,  1637.  The  inhabitants 
were  obliged  to  furnish  them  with  subsistence,  and  this 
amounted  altogether,  the  careful  notary  tells  us,  to  39,815 
livres  and  10  sous.' 

In  June,  1637,  the  royal  army  remained  near  there  for 
four  days.  The  oats  were  ruined  and  a  part  of  the  wheat. 
On  the  15th  of  June  the  pest  began  again  and  raged  until 
the  end  of  November.  Six  hundred  people  died.  In  De- 
cember three  hundred  and  fifty  men  were  again  stationed 
there  as  a  garrison.  The  town  paid  the  men  six  sous  a 
day  and  furnished  them  with  bread,  but,  notwithstanding 
that,  during  theirstay  until  March,  1638,  they  caused  un- 
paralleled disorders.* 

During  the  most  of  1638  a  regiment  of  six  hundred 
cavalry,  under  Colonel  Gassion,  was  in  the  town.  These 
brought  with  them  two  hundred  servants  and  sixty 
women,  and  lived  at  free  quarters.  Twenty  houses  were 
burned  at  an  expense  of  fifteen  thousand  livres.     In  this 

'  Journal  concernant  les  Desordres  qui  se  sont  passes  dans  la  Comte  de 
Mark  peudant  la  Guerre.  2,  3.  *  lb.,  4.  lb.,  6.         *  lb.,  6,  7. 


398      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

year  the  town  paid  eight  thousand  livres  to  the  govern- 
ment for  taille  and  subsistence,  while  its  local  expenses 
were  only  two  thousand.*  Two  different  regiments  were 
quartered  on  the  town  in  1639,  and  twice  the  army  was 
encamped  near  it,  in  all  for  seven  weeks.  They  destroyed 
most  of  the  crops,  and  the  expense  to  the  town  of  furnish- 
ing supplies  for  the  troops  was  estimated  at  twenty-nine 
thousand  livres.  The  three  following. years  are  filled  with 
similar  entries."  In  1643  the  battle  of  Rocroi  was  won, 
but  Marie  was  obliged  to  take  charge  of  some  of  the  sick, 
and  also  of  four  hundred  Spanish  prisoners,  and  all  these 
things  were  at  the  expense  of  the  town.  It  cost  them 
7,300  livres,  and  in  July  the  Count  of  Grancey  camped 
near  it  for  four  days,  and  this  ruined  the  wheat.  In  Sep- 
tember the  notary  minutes  that  Innocent  X.  had  been 
elected  Pope  and  had  taken  for  his  arms  a  dove  with  an 
olive  branch.  "  God  grant,"  he  says,  "  that  this  may  be 
a  sign  of  the  peace  that  shall  be  given  us."  * 

The  next  four  years  contain  similar  entries.  There  was 
not  a  year  during  which  some  part  of  the  crops  in  the 
vicinity  were  not  destroyed ;  not  a  year  in  which  Marie 
was  not  obliged  to  furnish  subsistence  to  soldiers  ;  not  a 
year  in  which  some  companies  were  not  living  there  at 
free  quarters  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time.  But  the  miser- 
ies from  1636  to  1648  were  to  be  far  exceeded  during  the 
years  of  the  Fronde.* 

The  depositions  taken  at  Laon  tell  a  similar  story.  In 
1636  the  Spanish  armies,  and  in  each  year  from  1636  to 
1647  successive  French  armies,  commanded  by  Le  Meil- 
leraie,  Orleans,  Enghien,  Gassion,  and  others,  marched  and 
countermarched  over  the  country.  Many  villages  and 
churches  were  burned,  and  the  ordinary  course  of  justice 
was  entirely  interrupted  during  those  years.  Most  of  the  in- 
habitants had  been  reduced  to  poverty,  and  crimes  were 
committed  with  impunity  by  them,  as  well  as  by  the  soldiers. 
There  was  no  attempt  made  to  bring  criminals  to  justice.* 

'/*.,  7-9.  ^  lb.,  10-16.  *  lb.,  19.  *  lb.,  19-29. 

*  Relations,  etc.,  printed  by  Fleury.  "  Le  Diocese  de  Laon  pendant  la 
Fronde,"  22-5. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND    THE  PEOPLE.         ^gg 

In  1647  a  witness  declares  that  the  soldiers  lived  with 
such  license,  that  many  laborers  were  obliged  to  abandon 
their  houses  and  farms  and  to  take  refuge  in  the  woods. 
In  Barenton  Buguy,  where  there  had  been  two  hundred 
families,  there  were  now  but  seven  or  eight.* 

In  the  year  1648  the  battle  of  Lens  was  won,  but  this 
victory  brought  no  relief.  Some  of  Enghien's  troops 
camped  near  Marie  for  fourteen  days,  and  lived  at  discre- 
tion on  the  country.  What  they  ate  cost  30,000  livres, 
and  what  they  destroyed  was  very  much  more.  In  Sep- 
tember three  regiments  of  cavalry  entered  Marie  and  re- 
mained there  twenty-three  days,  pillaging  the  fields  and 
destroying  some  houses.  In  October  five  regiments  en- 
tered the  town,  consisting  of  the  mercenaries  of  Erlach. 
The  ravages  were  more  severe  than  usual.  Thirty  houses 
were  burned,  and  the  entire  damage  they  did  was  esti- 
mated at  100,000  livres."  The  counsellor  at  Laon  testified, 
that  women  and  girls  were  violated  and  turned  naked  into 
the  streets.* 

The  ravages  of  1649  were  still  worse,  and  this  year 
there  was  a  failure  of  the  crop,  even  where  it  escaped 
destruction  from  war.  It  was  almost  impossible  to  labor, 
and  a  portion  of  the  people  died  from  hunger  by  reason 
of  the  dearness  of  provisions.*  But  in  1650  the  district 
felt  the  effects  of  the  Fronde.  Turenne  had  declared 
for  Cond6  and  held  Stenai  in  his  interests.  Taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  embarrassment  of  the  government  from 
these  revolts,  the  Spanish  invaded  France.  Plessis  Pras- 
lin  marched  to  meet  them,  and  his  army  of  15,000  men 
was  for  nine  days  at  Marie.  The  country  was  laid  waste 
for  four  leagues  round.  On  the  6th  of  August,  Plessis 
Praslin  left  the  town,  and  on  the  13th  it  was  captured  by 
the  Spanish.  Its  inhabitants  were  promised  their  honor 
and  their  lives,  but  the  Spaniards  left  them  very  little 
else.  A  special  contribution  of  1,000  livres  saved,  however, 
the  decorations  of  the  great  clock  of  the  church.     The 

'  lb.,  30,  31.  •  Relation  de  Marie,  29-35. 

*  Dioc^e  de  Laon,  34.  *  Relation  de  Marie,  39. 


400       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND   MAZARIN. 

Spanish  evacuated  on  the  15th  of  August,  but  sickness 
followed,  and  from  then  till  December  eight  hundred  per- 
sons died.  Two  hundred  more  would  have  died  of  hun- 
ger had  it  not  been  for  the  charitable  labors  of  the  priests 
of  the  Mission,  acting  under  the  direction  of  Saint  Vincent 
de  Paul.  The  notary  found  one  consolation  amid  the  mis- 
eries of  the  time,  for  he  entered  at  the  end  of  his  journal 
for  1650,  that  this  year  by  the  mercy  of  God  and  the  zeal 
of  the  Company  of  Jesus,  China  had  been  converted  to 
the  faith  of  its  emperor  and  all  of  his  court  baptized.' 

The  reports  sent  by  the  priests  employed  in  charitable 
work  in  the  diocese  of  Laon  describe  the  condition  of 
other  towns  in  it.  At  Montcornet,  where  there  were 
three  hundred  families,  seven  hundred  persons  had  died. 
Neither  laborers  could  be  found,  nor  horses  nor  oxen,  for 
working  the  fields.  Seventy  houses  had  been  burned  at 
Marjot  out  of  one  hundred  and  ten.  Men  and  women 
who  had  been  mutilated  were  numerous  in  the  diocese. 
For  almost  a  year  many  had  eaten  only  roots  and  spoiled 
fruit.  Some  had  occasionally  obtained  bread  so  bad  that 
hardly  a  dog  would  eat  it.  Some  were  found  in  caves  in 
which  they  had  taken  refuge.  In  the  faubourgs  of  Saint 
Quentin  the  houses  had  been  burned.  Twenty-five  mud 
huts  had  been  put  up,  and  in  each  of  them  the  mission- 
aries found  two  or  three  sick,  and  in  one  of  them  ten. 
Two  women  and  eight  children  were  lying  on  the  ground 
in  one  hut,  entirely  without  clothes.  Of  the  cur^s  of 
the  diocese,  eighty  had  died  and  one  hundred  had  been 
forced  to  leave.  During  the  winter  it  was  said  that 
every  day  as  many  as  two  hundred  persons  died  of  hunger 
in  the  provinces  of  Picardy  and  Champagne.' 

"For  sixteen  years,"  the  notary  writes  in  165 1,  "the 
misery  of  the  city  of  Marie  had  been  such  as  could  hardly 
be  described  or   imagined,  but  it  was  necessary  for  the 

'  Relation  de  Marie,  35-47. 

*  Relations,  etc.,  Diocese  de  Laon,  47-71.  These  relations  are  the 
reports  sent  by  the  missionaries  to  their  principals,  and  they  are  uniform  ia 
their  tone.     Nothing  could  be  more  authentic  or  trustworthy. 


THE   ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        4OI 

troops  of  the  king  to  oppose  the  enemy,  and  it  was 
usual  that  the  enemy  themselves  should  pillage  a  country 
they  entered.  The  inhabitants  had  suffered  their  misfor- 
tunes as  the  natural  results  of  war,  but  their  patience  was 
exhausted  when  these  evils  were  increased  by  the  ravages 
of  rebels  against  the  king."  During  all  the  summer  of 
165  I  Marie  was  occupied  by  the  troops  of  the  Prince  of 
Cond^.  Of  two  hundred  and  fifty  houses  in  the  fau- 
bourgs, one  hundred  were  burned.  The  officers  were  en- 
gaged in  constant  debaucheries,  and  made  havoc  of  the 
houses  in  which  they  took  their  lodgings.  The  air  was 
full  of  execrations  against  the  queen  and  the  cardinal,  and 
all  were  compelled  to  cry,  "  Long  live  the  Prince  of 
Cond^  !  "  Those  who  complained  of  the  pillage  of  their 
houses  were  called  Mazarinites,  and  treated  accordingly. 
The  soldiers  marched  out  to  plunder  the  neighboring  coun- 
try in  bodies  of  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred  men,  with  drums 
beating,  and  their  officers  at  the  head.  Every  night  from 
the  city  walls  the  light  could  be  seen  of  burning  houses,  or 
barns,  or  of  entire  villages.  From  the  13th  of  August  to  the 
7th  of  September  eleven  villages  were  pillaged.  At  Houry 
a  body  of  fifteen  hundred  men  first  burned  the  village 
and  then  burned  the  church  in  which  the  inhabitants  had 
taken  refuge.  The  people  escaping  were,  for  the  most 
part,  only  plundered.  But  two  men  and  one  woman  were 
killed,  and  some  of  the  women  were  violated.'  At  Laon 
the  governor  testified  that  over  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred people  were  incessantly  asking  for  relief,  and  many 
died  in  the  hospitals  and  in  the  streets.* 

The  year  1652  brought  no  change.  The  Duke  of  Lor- 
raine led  his  troops  to  Paris,  but  their  pilla'ging  was 
mostly  carried  on  south  of  Marie.  The  Spaniards,  how- 
ever, marched  near  Laon  in  their  endeavor  to  join  Condi's 
forces  in  Guienne,  and  were  encamped  there  for  some  time. 
The  accounts  of  their  conduct  are  the  same  as  in  other 
years.  There  was  no  longer  much  in  the  diocese  to  plun- 
der.    Of  three  hundred  parishes  it  was  said  that  one  hun- 

'  Relation  de  Marie,  49-69.  *  Diocese  de  Laon,  71. 


402       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

dred  and  fifty  had  been  abandoned.  Many  had  left  Marie 
because  they  had  no  means  of  subsistence  there.  Those 
who  remained  had  to  live  on  bread  made  of  oats  and 
barley.  Even  those  who  had  been  the  richest  of  the 
residents  could  no  longer  collect  their  rents,  and  commerce 
was  destroyed.  They  were  satisfied  with  bread  of  which 
half  or  two  thirds  consisted  of  barley  and  peas.'  "  It  is 
with  sorrow,"  the  notary  writes  at  the  beginning  of  1653, 
"  that  I  describe  the  miseries  of  my  country,  and  I  regret 
that  I  have  begun,  for  I  see  no  end  to  our  misfortunes. 
The  pen  falls  from  my  hand,  and  I  am  almost  resolved  to 
cease  a  work  which  can  only  cause  pain  to  our  succes- 
sors." '  In  this  year  more  troops  were  in  the  diocese 
than  at  any  other  time.  The  soldiers  of  the  king,  of 
Cond^,  and  of  the  Spanish  archduke  were  all  there,  and 
some  of  the  armies  contained  as  many  as  35,000  men. 
The  king's  forces,  under  the  marshal  La  Fert^  Seneterre, 
committed  ravages  equal  to  those  of  the  enemy.  The  in- 
habitants asked  for  protection,  but  the  marshal  only  an- 
swered that  the  soldiers  must  live.  There  was  but  little 
difference  the  next  year.  Troops  were  stationed  at  Marie 
for  167  days,  and  the  notary  makes  a  detailed  calculation 
of  how  much  they  cost  the  town.  Among  the  expenses 
are  10  sous  a  day  for  each  of  70  valets,  and  the  same 
amount  per  day  for  30  women.  Even  60  dogs  had  to  be 
supported  at  3  sous  each  a  day.  In  all  it  cost  Marie 
94,686  livres  and  10  sous.  Besides  this  about  30  small 
houses  were  destroyed  and  1,200  trees.' 

The  country  was  exhausted.  Those  who  had  been  worth 
60,000  livres  were  now  without  bread.  Nothing  but  straw 
to  sleep  on  was  left  for  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  coun- 
try. There  were  six  hundred  orphans  under  twelve  in  the 
small  city  of  Laon.*     The  Prince  of  Cond^  established 

*  Relation  de  Marie,  78-95.     Diocese  de  Laon,  78. 

•  Relation  de  Marie,  95-8.  This  outbreak  is  curious,  as  the  most  of  this 
journal  of  misery  is  written  with  extraordinary  dryness.  The  facts  are  put 
down  with  no  more  comment  than  as  if  it  were  a  book  of  account.  But 
eighteen  years  of  unbroken  misfortune  exhausted  the  most  patient. 

'  Relation  de  Marie,  95-135.  *  Diocise  de  Laon,  85,  86. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        403 

himself  at  Rocroi,  and  from  that  town  pillaged  and  levied 
blackmail  on  the  country.  After  1656  this  district  was 
less  afflicted  by  the  passage  of  armies.  In  1659  peace  was 
made.  For  the  last  few  years  of  the  war  little  record 
is  found  of  the  condition  of  the  diocese.  It  was  so  ex- 
hausted that  the  inhabitants  had  no  longer  the  energy 
even  to  recount  their  misfortunes.  In  1660,  it  was  said 
that  not  only  here,  but  in  all  Picardy,  Champagne,  and 
Lorraine,  it  was  rare  to  find  a  house  where  there  was  suffi- 
cient bread,  that  a  bed  covering  was  seldom  seen,  that 
the  well  and  the  sick  slept  on  straw,  and  had  only  their 
rags  to  cover  them.' 

In  the  diocese  of  Laon  during  each  year,  for  over 
twenty  consecutive  years,  troops  were  quartered,  forced 
levies  were  exacted,  and  some  portion  of  the  crops  was 
destroyed.  The  twenty  years  are  an  unbroken  record  of 
pillage  and  plunder,  house*  burned,  crops  destroyed,  men 
murdered,  and  women  violated. 

It  may  be  thought  that  Laon  and  Marie  from  their 
position  were  specially  exposed  to  the  passage  of  armies, 
and  that  they  suffered  more  during  these  years  than  the  rest 
of  France.  But  an  equally  detailed  relation  would  show 
a  similar  condition  in  a  vast  number  of  districts.  When 
civil  war  was  added  to  the  misfortunes  of  the  time,  hardly 
a  province  of  France  escaped  disturbance  and  pillage. 
Even  those  portions  which  were  entirely  free  from  the 
presence  of  soldiers,  were  so  burdened  by  taxation  and 
the  disorders  caused  by  the  war,  that  their  condition  was 
little  better  than  that  of  Alsace  or  Picardy.  Lorraine, 
which  was  not  yet  indeed  a  part  of  France,  but  was  grad- 
ually becoming  incorporated  with  that  kingdom,  lay  be- 
tween the  combatants,  and  was  the  battle-field  for  all.  It 
was  ravaged  equally  by  the  soldiers  of  its  own  duke, 
and  by  those  of  the  Spanish,  the  Swedes,  and  the  French. 
At  one  time  there  were  six  armies  and  150,000  soldiers 
upon  its  fields.  The  town  of  Saint  Nicholas  in  1630  was 
a  flourishing  place  of   10,000  people.     It  had  local  fairs 

'  Recueil  Thoi<!v,  1660,  t.  xiv. 


404       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

and  a  considerable  trade  in  jewelry.  It  was  enriched  also 
by  frequent  pilgrimages  of  the  pious  to  its  shrines.  At 
the  end  of  the  war  it  had  but  a  few  hundred  people  left.' 
The  poor  of  Lorraine,  other  relations  tell  us,  died  of 
hunger ;  bread  sold  for  a  franc  the  loaf,  and  the  people 
lived  on  acorns  and  roots.  The  wolves  came  from  the 
great  forests,  and  accustomed  to  feed  on  the  bodies  that 
lay  exposed  in  many  parts,  they  often  attacked  and  de- 
voured women  and  children.  Eighty  villages  were  de- 
serted and  ceased  to  exist.  The  glass-works  of  Damey 
were  closed,  and  many  flourishing  industries  disappeared. '"' 

Alsace  was  in  like  manner  suffering  the  evils  that 
attend  the  transfer  of  a  province  from  one  government  to 
another,  and  its  condition  was  as  bad  as  that  of  Lorraine. 
Bourbonnais  was  further  removed  from  the  scene  of  war, 
but  it  suffered  from  the  civil  commotions  and  from  famine 
and  disease.  "  The  people  are  in  great  terror,"  writes  a 
contemporary,  "  because  there  is  a  rumor  that  Monsieur 
is  to  pass  through  this  country  with  a  large  army.  God 
give  us  soon  a  good  peace,  and  incline  the  king  to  succor 
his  poor  people,  who  are  now  in  extreme  distress." ' 

Normandy  also  was  free  from  the  pillage  of  soldiers^ 
except  during  a  year  or  two  of  the  Fronde,  but  taxation 
was  especially  onerous  in  that  province.  The  chancellor's 
sister  wrote  him  that  the  prison  of  Pontoise  was  full  of  per- 
sons confined  for  non-payment  of  the  taille,  and  they  were 
consumed  by  misery.  The  rich  paid  less  than  the  poor, 
and  the  receiver  of  Gisors  was  becoming  wealthy  from  the 
oppression  of  the  defenceless.  "  Grant  justice  to  the  op- 
pressed," wrote  the  Carmelite,  "  and  God  will  grant  you 
mercy."  *  Twenty-one  years  later  the  receiver  of  Gisors 
was  at  last  brought  to  trial  for  robbing  the  public,  and 
seven  hundred  witnesses  testified  against  him.*     A  bad 

'  "  Description  du  Feu  et  du  Pillage  de  Saint  Nicolas,"  written  by  a 
witness  and  published  by  Marchal. 

'  "  Depopulation  de  la  Lorraine."  "  Histoire  de  la  Reunion  de  la 
Lorraine  A  la  France."  *  Printed  in  Cabinet  Historique,  t.  vi. 

*  Lettre  de  Soeur  Jeanne  de  Jesus,  Carmelite  indigne.     Mss.  Bibl.  Nat. 

•  Lettre  de  Guy  Patin,  Dec,  1664. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND    THE   PEOPLE.       405 

harvest  in  1648,  and  the  destruction  of  the  crop  by  the 
troubles  of  the  Fronde  in  1649,  bred  a  pestilence.  The 
hospitals  were  so  crowded  that  eight  and  ten  were  put  in 
one  bed,  and  sometimes  a  living  person  was  found  in  the 
midst  of  corpses.' 

Champagne  was  exposed  to  the  ravages  both  of  civil 
and  foreign  war.  In  three  years  Rethel  sustained  four 
sieges,  and  the  enemy  passed  through  the  country  five 
times.  The  governor  of  the  troops  at  Sainte  Menehould 
in  1652  notified  the  neighboring  towns  to  furnish  a  certain 
amount  of  grain,  in  default  of  which  they  would  be  pil- 
laged and  burned.  In  August,  1653,  a  correspondent 
writes  that  the  garrison  made  constant  excursions,  and 
carried  off  the  corn  and  sheep.  Nineteen  persons  had 
been  captured  within  eight  days,  and  were  held  for  ran- 
som. At  one  time  but  fifty-three  of  its  inhabitants  re- 
mained at  Sainte  Menehould.' 

Picardy  lay  very  near  to  the  scene  of  the  war  in  the 
Spanish  Netherlands,  and  its  sufferings  had  little  intermis- 
sion. An  illustration  of  the  customs  of  the  time  is  found 
in  a  letter  from  the  French  garrison  at  Saint  Quentin  to 
the  city  officers.  The  soldiers  said  they  had  protected 
the  city  for  five  months,  but  they  had  received  no  pay. 
They  regarded  themselves  as  deserving  a  reward  for  their 
pains,  and  they  notified  the  officials  that  if  they  did  not 
soon  receive  their  back  pay,  they  had  resolved  to  plunder 
the  best  shops  and  the  market,  and  set  fire  to  the  city  in 
four  quarters.*  Such  messages  were  not  simply  a  grim 
joking,  but  the  soldiers  only  too  often  executed  their 
threats.  In  1652,  the  inhabitants  of  Saint  Quentin  and 
other  towns  in  Picardy  and  Champagne  were  reduced  to 
such  a  condition  that  they  had  nothing  with  which  to 
plant  and  cultivate  their  fields,  except  as  they  received 
charity  from  Paris.  From  regard  to  their  needs,  the  Par- 
liament extended  for  a  year  the  time  for  the  payment  of 

'  Recit  de  ce  qui  s'  est  passe  en  les  hdpitaux  de  Saint  Louis  et  Saint  Roch. 
Mss.  Bibl.  Nat.  •  Relations,  etc.     Arch.  Nat.  K.  K. ,  1072. 

•  BibL  Nat.  Mss.    Col.  Picardie,  t.  Iviii. 


406      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

their  debts,  and  directed  the  release  of  all  levies  that  had 
been  made."  Near  Rethel,  some  of  the  villages  organized 
for  their  own  defence.  A  Scotch  regiment  of  one  thou- 
sand men  was  stationed  there  in  165 1.  The  crops  in  the 
vicinity  had  been  so  injured  by  them  and  other  troops 
that  rye  sold  for  one  dollar  and  fifteen  cents  a  bushel. 
One  Oudard  acquired  some  reputation  as  a  guerilla  cap- 
tain, and  with  about  two  hundred  peasants  he  under- 
took the  defence  of  the  towns,  and  of  the  residences  of 
some  of  the  nobles  which  were  threatened  with  assaults. 
He  stationed  his  men  advantageously,  from  his  knowledge 
of  the  country  and  the  woods,  and  carried  on  a  small  war 
with  the  soldiers,  when  they  attempted  plundering  ex- 
peditions. No  quarter  was  given,  and  when  they  captured 
any  of  the  soldiers,  although  they  were  in  the  employ  of 
the  French  government,  they  slaughtered  them  at  once. 
Disease  came  at  the  end  of  such  a  year  as  this.  Food  was 
so  dear  that  those  living  in  the  best  houses  had  to  be  con- 
tent with  bread  made  of  oats  and  barley,  and  occasionally 
some  meal  soup,  and  dysentery  raged  during  the  autumn.* 
The  peasants  who  had  taken  up  arms  in  their  own  de- 
fence presently  themselves  became  highwaymen.  Oudard 
and  his  nephew  were  at  last  captured  and  hung. 

The  disorders  of  the  Fronde  continued  in  Guienne 
longer  than  any  other  part  of  France,  and  that  province 
suffered  very  severely.  Discontents  had  long  been  rife  in 
that  section.  In  1643  a  superintendent  wrote  the  Chan- 
cellor from  Gascony  that  he  found  disorders  in  every 
quarter.  The  people  paid  their  taxes  with  reluctance, 
and  there  was  hardly  an  officer  who  was  not  guilty  of 
many  abuses.  He  feared  trouble,  and  it  soon  came.  The 
inhabitants  seized  some  of  the  tax-collectors  and  plunged 
them  in  a  kettle  of  quick-lime  used  by  the  tanners  for 
hides.  They  escaped  half  boiled,  and  a  sedition  followed.* 
The    oppression    practised     by    Epernon     irritated    the 

*  "  Mis^re  au  Temps  de  la  Fronde,"  364. 
'  Bibl.  Nat    Mss.,  Rheims,  t.  vii. 

•  Bibl.  Nat.  Mss.  fonds  Germain,  709,  8-34. 


THE  ADMINISTRA  TION  AND  THE   PEOPLE.       407 

people  still  more,  but  the  Fronde  only  made  their  condi- 
tion worse.  The  country  was  wasted  by  the  soldiers  and 
the  pestilence.  In  1652  it  was  said  that  half  the  popula- 
tion of  Agen  perished  from  disease,  and  that  there  were 
eight  thousand  deaths  at  Montauban.' 

Donjon  was  threatened  by  two  thousand  soldiers  of 
Cond6,  and  immediately  after  them  came  three  companies 
of  cavalry,  who  are  characterized  as  cruel  devils,  and  who, 
for  seven  days,  robbed  the  town  and  held  inhabitants  for 
ransom,  in  order  to  compel  the  payment  of  the  arrears 
of  the  taille  for  three  years."  The  official  reports  of  the 
condition  of  towns  show  the  extent  of  the  ravages  more 
clearly  than  loose  complaints.  Auxonne,  in  1646,  had  a 
population  of  only  618,  of  whom  144  were  widows,  and  141 
peasants  that  had  fled  from  the  country.  It  contained 
417  houses,  of  which  120  were  uninhabited.  The  roads, 
were  bad ;  many  of  the  inhabitants  slept  on  straw ;  the 
bridge  was  in  ruins,  and  the  town  owed  160,000  livres.  It 
had  been  reduced  to  this  condition,  partly  by  the  war,  and 
partly  by  violent  epidemics  in  1636.*  Auxonne  is  now  a 
prosperous  place,  with  good  roads  and  bridges,  and  a  pop- 
ulation of  five  or  six  thousand.  The  little  city  of  Lan- 
gon  was  captured  and  recaptured  during  the  Fronde  in 
Guienne.  Its  inhabitants  had  a  detailed  statement  pre- 
pared of  the  houses  that  had  been  destroyed.  In  the 
Rue  de  la  Mer,  ten  had  been  burned  or  destroyed  ;  in  the 
Rue  Biron,  eight ;  and  in  the  Rue  Saint  Gervais,  the 
church  and  ten  houses  burned,  and  the  windows  and 
doors  destroyed  of  the  others.  In  this  manner  the 
amount  of  the  devastation  is  traced  from  street  to  street ; 
the  place  had  not  been  sacked,  but  such  were  the  results 
of  the  casual  and  wanton  damage  inflicted  by  two  armies. 
Accounts  such  as  this,  year  after  year,  can  be  collected  in 
almost  every  province  in  France.  War  and  taxes  so  re- 
duced the  condition  of  the  people  that,  in  1655,  an  Eng- 
lish  correspondent  wrote  that  the  people  were  weighed 

'  "  Misire  au  Temps  de  la  Fronde,"  479,  480. 
*  Registres  paroissiaux  du  Donjon.  *  Proems  Verbal  de  1646. 


408       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

down  with  poverty,  tallies,  and  all  sorts  of  impositions ;  yet 
they  preferred  to  suffer  them  all  rather  than  have  war.' 
Mother  Angelique  wrote  the  queen  of  Poland,  in  1654,  that 
the  general  misery  was  such,  that  there  were  few  artisans ; 
where  the  ravages  of  the  war  had  been,  they  had  been  killed 
or  scattered,  and  it  was  difificult  even  to  find  men  to  culti- 
vate the  fields.  Some  artisans  could  be  obtained  from 
Normandy,  where  the  taille  was  so  heavy,  that  it  would 
be  easier  than  in  the  other  provinces  to  get  men  to  leave, 
and  go  even  to  Poland.  Many  laborers  had  been  ruined 
by  the  taille,  and  had  been  driven  to  abandon  their 
homes." 

In  1659,  the  appeals  for  aid  were  as  urgent  as  during  the 
years  of  the  civil  war.  Extraordinary  misery  was  found 
in  Burgundy,  Picardy,  and  Lorraine.  Even  in  the  envi- 
rons of  Paris,  men  would  dispute  with  the  dogs  for  a  dead 
animal  found  in  the  streets.  Of  200  persons  in  one  vil- 
lage, 180  had  no  bread.  It  was  believed  that  10,000  had 
died  of  need,  and,  unless  aid  was  given,  the  men  would 
not  be  able  even  to  cultivate  the  crops.  Pestilence 
would  be  bred  by  insufficient  nourishment,  and  would 
ravage  Paris,  as  well  as  the  country.  In  Berry,  another 
wrote,  people  were  dying  of  hunger.  The  faces  of  those 
one  saw  were  pale,  livid,  and  death-like.  The  people  lived 
on  herbs,  with  occasionally  a  piece  of  black  bread.  In 
15  parishes,  there  were  1,500  sick  people,  lying  on  straw 
and  eating  roots  boiled  in  water,  with  no  salt.  The  fields 
were  full  of  men,  almost  naked,  sick,  starving,  hunting  for 
roots  or  for  the  dead  body  of  some  animal.' 

The  records  have  been  kept  of  the  leases  of  several 
pieces  of  property  near  Sens ;  they  show  that  land  which 
yielded  an  income  of  18  livres  an  acre  in  the  sixteenth 
century  yielded  but  6  livres  from  1650  to  1660.  In  i860, 
four  times  as  much  income  was  received  from  the  same 
land.* 

'  Paper  cited  in  "  La  Misire  au  Temps  de  la  Fronde,"  502. 
'  Letters  to  Queen  of  Poland,  Jan.  28  and  April  i,  1654. 
'  Relations  of  1659  and  1660  ;  there  was  a  bad  crop  in  1660. 
*  Published  in  Revue  Archeologique  de  Sens,  vi.,  150-191. 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  PEOPLE.        409 

The  years  of  the  Fronde  were  so  attended  by  the 
misfortunes  created  by  civil  war,  that  the  effect  is  shown 
in  the  records  of  births.  At  Arnay  from  1648  to  1650 
the  average  number  of  births  was  1 10.  It  sank  to 
86  in  the  years  from  1650  to  1654.  In  1652  there  were 
but  65,  a  figure  which  was  not  reached  again  until  the 
famine  of  1693.  At  Limours  in  the  center  of  France, 
from  1647  to  1650  there  were  32  births  a  year  on  the 
average  and  28  deaths.  For  the  next  three  years  the 
births  averaged  23  and  the  deaths  58.  At  Dreux  the 
mortality  went  from  260  to  400,  and  in  165 1  there  were 
551  deaths.  The  births  had  decreased  from  265  to  189.' 
Most  of  these  records  show  a  condition  of  exceptional 
misery,  caused  by  foreign  or  domestic  war,  by  taxation  of 
great  severity,  by  famine,  plague,  and  inundation. 

The  entire  country  was  not  always  in  a  condition  such 
as  this,  or  it  would  have  again  reached  the  state  of  France 
during  the  English  wars.  But  there  were  general  causes 
which  kept  the  mass  of  the  people  always  poor  and  often 
miserable,  and  the  calamities  which  aggravated  their  lot 
were  of  frequent  occurrence.  War  raged  during  a  large 
proportion  of  the  time.  Taxation  was  almost  always  of 
crushing  severity.  Among  ignorant  laborers,  with  poor 
commercial  regulations  and  industrial  appliances,  bad 
crops  were  frequent.  A  bad  crop  among  a  poor  people, 
with  the  means  of  communication  expensive  and  difficult, 
meant  a  famine,  and  famine  bred  pestilence.  "  Under 
Henry  IV.  France  was  in  advance  of  us  in  all  things." 
Arthur  Young  wrote  late  in  the  i8th  century,  "Thanks 
to  libert}-,  we  have  changed  the  r61e."' 

The  French  peasant  and  laborer  of  to-day,  if  we  com- 
pare him  with  his  ancestor  two  centuries  ago,  eats  a  larger 
loaf  of  better  bread  ;  his  house  is  lighter,  larger,  and  drier; 
he  has  more  salt  and  sugar  with  his  food  ;  he  does  not  fear 

'  Many  figures  from  various  towns  are  collected  and  published  in  "  La 
Misire  au  Temps  de  la  Fronde,"  369-373.  It  is  difficult  to  find  trust- 
worthy records  of  births  and  deaths  at  this  period. 

*  I  quote  this  from  recollection,  but  this  is  the  idea  if  not  the  exact 
wording. 


4IO      FRANCE  UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

that  he  will  be  imprisoned  for  his  taxes,  nor  that  the  land- 
lord will  whip  his  son  or  the  collector  insult  his  daughter ; 
he  occasionally  has  meat  for  his  dinner ;  he  has  his  voice  in 
the  choice  of  the  representative  who  shall  fix  the  amount 
he  must  pay  the  government ;  he  drinks  more  wine,  of  a 
better  quality  ;  and  he  smokes  his  pipe  with  contentment, 
as  he  surveys  the  piece  of  land  that  is  his  own.  The  suf- 
ferings of  the  past  were  so  sharp  that  years  have  not 
softened  their  remembrance,  and  he  indulges  in  no  re- 
pinings  for  the  "good  old  times,"  and  as  he  considers 
the  difference  in  his  lot  he  is  equally  thankful  for  the 
industrial  improvements  of  this  century,  and  for  the  social 
revolution  of  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-nine. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

SOCIAL    LIFE    AND   CUSTOMS. 

In  considering  the  customs  and  modes  of  life  of  the 
classes  which  were  raised  above  the  necessity  of  manual 
labor,  the  nobility  naturally  first  attract  our  attention. 
The  body  of  the  nobles  was  a  very  large  one,  and  it  was 
estimated  that  it  contained  in  all  as  many  as  four  hundred 
thousand  persons.  In  Poitou  alone  the  superintendent 
reported  there  were  fifteen  hundred  gentlemen,'  and  with 
their  families  there  must  have  been  several  thousand  of 
gentle  blood  in  this  small  province.  Not  only  were  all 
members  of  noble  families  noble,  but  nobility  had  been 
profusely  granted  to  officials  of  many  classes.  Many  also 
assumed  the  rank  without  being  entitled  to  it,  in  order  to- 
obtain  social  position  and  to  enjoy  exemption  from  taxa- 
tion. Frequent  investigations  were  ordered  as  to  the  real 
status  of  such  offenders,  but  they  were  usually  abandoned. 

An  aristocracy  must  be  rich  in  order  to  hold  its  posi- 
tion and  influence,  and  the  incomes  of  many  of  the  nobles 
were  large  for  the  period.  Except  for  a  few  great  nobles, 
and  for  those  whose  connection  with  the  Court  led  them 
to  an  absurd  extravagance,  living  was  relatively  cheaper 
then  than  now.  The  wages  of  servants  were  low,  and 
many  modern  sources  of  expense  had  not  .been  discov- 
ered. Persons  of  good  position  could  live  with  comfort 
on  sums  which  would  now  be  utterly  inadequate.     The 

'  Rapport  sur  Poitou,  25.  Including  all  officials  who  were  ennobled,  I 
think  400,000  is  not  too  high  a  figure.  The  older  nobility  who  held  land, 
as  distinguished  from  the  new  men  who  held  office,  constituted  probably 
over  half  of  this  body.  The  line  which  legally  separated  the  noble  from  the 
plebeian  was  loosely  drawn. 

411 


412       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

figures  seem  moderate,  even  when  we  remember  that 
prices  on  an  average  were  one  third  of  what  they  are  now. 
A  little  later,  in  1678,  Mme.  de  Maintenon  estimated  the 
sum  upon  which  a  family  of  good  position  could  live, 
keeping  ten  servants  and  four  horses,  at  twelve  thousand 
livres — about  one  thousand  pounds,  or  five  thousand  dollars. 
A  family  could  not  live  now  in  any  great  city  and  support 
such  an  establishment  for  five  times  that  amount.  The 
manner  in  which  this  sum  was  to  be  divided  shows  the 
difference  in  modes  of  life.  One  thousand  livres  went  for 
rent,  one  thousand  for  servants,  and  one  thousand  for  the 
dress  of  madame.  Six  thousand  livres  was  allowed  for 
the  table,  and  three  thousand  for  the  dress,  expenses,  and 
magnificence  of  monsieur.  In  1657,  five  or  six  thousand 
livres  was  considered  a  good  income  on  which  to  marry.' 
A  century  later  Arthur  Young  said  that  for  eight  thou- 
sand livres,  a  gentleman  could  live  in  the  country  and 
keep  four  servants  and  three  horses,"  In  the  society  of 
the  small  cities,  which  consisted  of  officials,  professional 
men,  and  prosperous  bourgeois,  the  expenses  of  life  were 
still  smaller.  The  Archbishop  of  Poitiers  had  an  income 
of  forty-two  thousand  livres,  and,  as  was  said,  this  was 
very  large  in  a  city  where  the  richest  families  had  usually 
only  three  or  four  thousand  livres  ($1,200  or  $1,600)  a 
year.  There  were  but  two  or  three  families  that  had  in- 
comes of  seven  or  eight  thousand.'  A  gentleman  who  was 
content  to  stay  at  his  home  in  the  country  needed  only 
a  valet  or  two,  and  he  did  not  startle  his  village  by 
riding  through  it  adorned  with  embroideries  or  tinsel,  like 
a  courtier  in  Paris.* 

It  is  impossible  to  give  the  average  incomes  of  so  large 
a  body  as  the  nobility.  In  Poitou,  in  1664,  many  are 
reported  with  incomes  of  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  livres 
(forty  or  sixty  thousand  francs).  Many  others  had  as 
little  as  eight  or  ten  thousand  livres.  Some,  it  was 
said,  in  Lorraine  had  incomes  of  less  than  two  thousand 

'Journal  d'un  Voyage  ^  Paris,  152.  *  Travels  in  France,  i.,  206. 

•  Rapport  sur  Poitou,  4.         *  Address  to  Assembly  of  Notables  in  1626. 


SOCIAL   LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  415 

livres,  but  they  were  usually  those  who  had  fraudulently 
assumed  the  rank  of  nobility.  There  were  fewer  nobles 
then,  than  a  century  later,  who  had  for  their  patrimony 
only  their  titles  and  their  pride.' 

Many  received  enormous  incomes,  partly  from  their 
lands,  and  partly  from  the  offices  and  pensions  bestowed 
on  them  by  the  king.  In  1650  the  incomes  of  the  Princes 
of  Cond6  and  Conti  and  of  the  Duke  of  Longueville 
amounted  altogether  to  nearly  two  million  livres.'  Cond^ 
alone  left  property  yielding  nearly  a  million  a  year,  besides 
his  governments.'  Mademoiselle  of  Orleans,  who  was 
said  to  be  the  richest  princess  in  France,  had  an  income 
of  three  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  livres.*  This  was 
not  enormous,  as  its  actual  money  value  would  not  be 
over  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  dollars.  The  great 
incomes  were  largely  derived  from  pensions  or  the  salaries 
of  offices.  The  rents  of  the  land  were  often  a  small  pro- 
portion of  the  receipts  of  a  rich  nobleman,  and  invest- 
ments in  personal  securities  were  unknown  among  the 
aristocracy.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  had  an  income  of  a 
million  livres,  of  which  only  one  hundred  thousand  came 
from  his  land.* 

The  government  paid  several  millions  annually  in  pen- 
sions. Most  of  the  powerful  nobles  received  large  sums 
in  this  way,  and  almost  all  of  them  who  had  any  standing 
at  the  Court  received  something.  These  gifts  were 
sometimes  made  in  the  form  of  offices,  and  sometimes  by 
granting  monopolies  of  some  branch  of  trade.  While 
trade  was  disgraceful,  yet,  if  some  monoply  was  granted 
by  the  king,  the  noble  could  avail  himself  of  that  without 
derogating  from  his  rank.  It  was  felt  that  the  govern- 
ment should  in  some  way  come  to  the  relief  of  the  nobles 
when  in  need  of  money.  The  Princess  of  Cond^  asked 
for  some  little  monopoly  to  be  granted  her  to  pay  some 

'  Rapports  sur  Poitou  et  Touraine,  passim. 

'  Lionne  to  Le  Tellier,  April  3,  1650,  printed  in  Mem.  de  Mole,  iv.,  380. 

*  Mem.  de  Motteville,  log.     Journal  d'Ormesson,  372. 

*  Mem.  Orleans,  570.  '  lb. 


414       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

of  her  debts.'  One  lady  had  the  monopoly  of  Sedan 
chairs,  and  another  of  the  hangings  used  at  the  funerals 
of  bourgeois  in  Paris." 

But  these  large  sums  were  drawn  from  the  treasury  by 
nobles  who  spent  a  great  portion  of  their  time  at  the 
Court.  Life  there  was  growing  more  expensive,  and  the 
extravagance  of  the  courtiers  was  excessive.  A  noble- 
man complained  that  they  would  all  be  better  off  without 
any  pensions,  for  the  country  gentleman,  who  lived  quietly 
at  home  with  one  valet,  came  up  to  Paris  in  the  hope  of 
obtaining  a  pension,  and  there  had  his  squire,  two  gentle- 
men in  attendance,  and  many  pages,  was  covered  with 
plumes  and  gold  lace,  and  consumed  his  whole  income  in 
two  or  three  months.'  Those  of  still  higher  position  lived 
in  great  splendor,  and  usually  spent  more  than  they  re- 
ceived. A  few  thrifty  nobles  like  the  Prince  of  Cond6 
accumulated  great  fortunes,  but  the  majority  of  them  dis- 
dained to  save  their  money.  Most  of  it  came  easily  and  was 
spent  recklessly.  The  Duke  of  Guise  spent  30,000  livres 
on  a  ball ;  an  extravagance  as  great  as  spending  $30,000 
now.  His  affairs  were  greatly  embarrassed  at  the  time,  but 
it  did  not  disturb  him.*  That  was  a  matter  for  his  superin- 
tendent to  see  about.  Bassompierre  received  a  visit  from 
the  king,  and  he  spent  as  much  as  this  in  entertaining  him 
with  magnificence."  When  Retz  went  on  a  political  mis- 
sion to  Compiegne,  he  had  seven  tables  served  and  spent 
2,400  livres,  or  a  thousand  dollars,  a  day.*  Very  many 
servants  were  kept  by  all,  and  the  great  nobles  had  about 
them  a  little  court,  composed  of  servants,  and  gentlemen 
who  were  their  retainers  and  bore  the  same  relation  to 
them  that  the  courtiers  did  to  the  king.  Richelieu  com- 
plained of  the  extravagance  of  his  nephew,  who  had  six 
secretaries  and  six  valets-de-chambre.  He  insisted  that 
his  establishment  should  be  reduced  to  forty-four  servants 
in  all.     Three  thousand  livres  a  month  must  answer  for 


'  Let.  de  Richelieu,  vi.,  869.         '  Edit  de  Mai.,  1645,  arret  Dec,  1634. 
'  Address  to  Assembly  of  Notables,  1626.  *  Journal  k  Paris,  56. 

*  Bassompierre,  129.  'Mem.  de  Retz,  iv.,  100. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  415 

the  expenses  of  the  table  and  horses,  and  the  nephew  must 
live  on  50,000  livres  a  year.  If  he  could  not  live  on  that 
at  Marseilles,  the  cardinal  said  that  all  the  money  in  the 
world  would  not  suffice.' 

The  result  of  extravagant  living  was  often  an  enormous 
indebtedness.  Bassompierre  owed  1,600,000  livres  and 
had  no  money  with  which  to  pay  his  creditors.'  It  had 
been  incurred  by  lavish  expenditure,  keeping  a  great 
establishment,  dressing  in  the  pink  of  fashion,  and  enter- 
taining with  magnificence.  The  queen  gave  Mme.  de 
Chevreuse  over  200,000  livres  to  pay  her  debts.  Pont  de 
Courlay,  Richelieu's  nephew,  ran  in  debt  400,000  livres  in 
ten  years  by  his  profuse  mode  of  living.'  The  Fronde  in 
Guienne  was  unable  to  raise  money  because  the  noble- 
men who  supported  it  were  already  greatly  in  debt,  and 
as  their  reputation  for  paying  what  they  owed  was  very 
poor,  no  one  was  willing  to  advance  money  upon  their 
credit. 

The  dress  of  the  time  was  very  different  from  our  own, 
and  that  worn  by  people  of  fashion  was  very  expensive. 
While  the  dresses  of  the  ladies  were  often  costly,  the 
greatest  expenditure  was  on  the  clothes  of  the  men.  So- 
ciety was  still  in  the  condition  where  the  male  seeks  lustre 
from  a  gorgeous  habiliment.  Many  edicts  were  issued 
against  this  extravagance.  These  declared  that  the  French 
were  consuming  their  estates  in  an  excessive  passion  for 
luxury  and  dress.*  Gentlemen  were  sometimes  arrested 
and  the  unlawful  finery  taken  from  them.'  But  the  edicts 
had  no  effect  in  checking  such  customs.  A  cloak  adorned 
with  gold  lace  cost  800  francs  or  $160.  The  dress  of  a 
gentleman  of  good  fashion  would  cost  3,000  or  4,000 
francs,  and  that  worn  on  great  occasions  would  cost 
10,000  francs,  or  more.  At  the  baptism  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  the  dress  worn  by  the  Marshal  of  Bassompierre 

'Let.  de  Richelieu,  v.,  481,  3,  503,  4,  vii.,  800. 

'Bassompierre,  97.  *Let.  de  Richelieu,  v.,  481. 

*  Declararion  of  November,  1639.     Mole,  iv. ,  194,  i.,  148. 

*  Voyage  k  Paris  en  1657. 


4l6       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

was  of  violet  and  cloth  of  gold.  It  was  covered  with 
pearls,  and,  with  his  sword  adorned  with  diamonds,  his 
entire  dress  cost  1 14,000  francs.  He  had  but  4,000  francs 
with  which  to  pay  for  it ;  but  he  won  30,000  francs  at 
cards  at  one  sitting,  and  afterwards  gained  enough  to  pay 
for  it  all.'  When  Turenne  was  at  Court  as  a  young  man 
he  wrote  his  mother  that  he  was  in  a  sad  plight,  having 
only  a  dress  of  black  and  one  of  red,  while  those  of  the  least 
importance  were  ashamed  to  be  seen  twice  at  great  balls,  in 
dresses  that  had  cost  4,000  and  6,000  francs.  They  were 
ruining  themselves,  he  said,  for  things  which  added  little 
to  a  man's  reputation.""  White  plumes  on  the  hat,  and  red 
shoes,  showed  that  their  wearer  belonged  to  the  Court.* 

The  dress  of  the  ladies  was  rich,  but,  except  in  the 
difference  of  fashions,  does  not  present  so  much  contrast 
with  that  of  more  modern  times.  Powder  and  rouge 
were  then  used  liberally,  and  ladies  ate  lemons  to  make 
them  pale.  There  was  much  luxury  in  gloves,  and  some 
insisted  that  three  hours  was  as  long  as  a  pair  should  be 
worn.*  Ladies  of  wealth  had  many  diamonds  and  precious 
stones.  When  Mme.  de  Longueville  and  her  daughter 
went  to  Miinster,  they  carried  with  them  jewels  costing 
over  600,000  francs." 

Masques  were  often  worn  by  ladies.  Introduced  at  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  they  came  gradually  into 
use,  and  became  very  common  during  the  Fronde.  In 
theory  they  shielded  the  face  from  the  intense  gaze  of 
inferiors,  and  in  practice  they  were  often  convenient  for 
ladies  devoted  to  politics  and  gallantry.  The  usage  was 
confined  to  the  upper  classes.  Politeness  required  that 
the  masque  should  be  raised  in  the  presence  of  one  of 
superior  rank.  Loret  tells  us  that  the  ladies  wore  masques 
when  driving  on  the  Cours  la  Reine,  but  when  the  king 
passed,  five  hundred  beautiful  faces  exposed  their  charms.* 

'  Mem.  de  Bassompierre,  49,  50.  '  Let.  of  Feb.  22,  1631. 

*  Tallemant,  i.,  36.     *  lb.,  i.,  128  ;  v.,  100.  Let.  de  Richelieu,  iv.,296. 

*  Voyage  i  MUnster,  2.     Mem.  de  Motteville,  84. 

*  Muze  Historique,  May,  1655. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  417 

In  1664,  Mme.  de  S^vign^  speaks  of  going  masked  to 
watch  her  friend  Fouquet,  when  he  was  taken  to  the  ar- 
senal. The  custom,  however,  disappeared  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  For  a  man  to  keep  on 
his  hat  was  still  the  privilege  and  the  practice  of  the  nobles. 
They  wore  them  even  when  they  ate  and  when  they 
danced.  A  book  on  etiquette  in  1660  says  that  gentle- 
men should  keep  on  their  hats  at  table,  except  during  the 
grace  and  the  benedicite.*  After  the  ballet,  when  the 
ladies  had  taken  off  their  masques,  the  gentlemen  put  on 
their  hats,  and  all  danced  together.*  It  was  one  of  the 
reforms  introduced  by  Mme.  de  Rambouillet,  that  at  her 
salon  usage  required  that  the  gentlemen  should  take  off 
their  hats.* 

As  serious  employment  could  not  be  allowed,  amuse- 
ments were  largely  sought.  Hunting  was  much  followed. 
Louis  XIII.  was  especially  devoted  to  this  sport,  and 
gave  to  it  a  large  part  of  his  life.  Game  was  abundant 
in  the  great  forests  which  covered  a  considerable  part  of 
France.  Deer,  wolves,  and  wild*  boars  were  hunted  on 
horseback,  and  birds  of  various  sorts  were  chased  by  fal- 
cons. Animals  were  also  shot,  and  Louis  XIII.  was  a 
very  accurate  marksman.  Hunting  was  forbidden  to  the 
roturiers,  and  it  was  exclusively  the  sport  of  gentlemen.* 

But  a  very  different  and  far  more  pernicious  amusement 
occupied  a  large  portion  of  the  time,  and  the  taste  for  it 
extended  somewhat  to  other  social  classes.  Gambling 
was  universal  among  the  aristocracy,  and  fabulous  amounts 
were  lost  at  play.  At  Court  there  were  tables  for  cards  both 
day  and  night,  and  ladies  as  well  as  gentlemen  played  for 
high  stakes.  Ancre  lost  80,000  pistoles  in  one  night.  Or- 
leans, Tubeuf  and  Cardinal  Mazarin  lost  over  half  a  million 
at  a  sitting.  Gourville  won  1 10,000  francs  of  the  Duke  of 
Richelieu  in  a  few  minutes.    The  duke  sold  a  piece  of  land 

'  Trait^  de  Civilite,  Courtin.    Tallemant,  vii.,  5q. 

*  Journal  de  Dubuisson  Aubenay,  Feb.  23,  1648. 

*  Hist.  Amoureuse  des  Gaules,  i.,  50. 

*  This  prohibition  was  often  repeated.  It  is  found  in  edict  of  1629. 
Anc.  Lois,  xvi.,  280. 


41 8       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

and  paid  the  amount.  M.  de  Crequi  lost  600,000  francs, 
and  it  was  charged  that  he  only  paid  half  the  debt.  Ma- 
dame de  Roquilaure  lost  30,000.  Her  husband  paid  the 
money  and  told  her  to  play  no  more. 

Where  many  gentlemen  ruined  their  estates  by  gam- 
bling, some  clever  young  adventurers  made  their  living 
out  of  it.  Gourville  says  he  played  with  care  and  won 
great  sums.  Henry  de  Campion  tells  us  he  lost  at  dice, 
but  he  abandoned  what  was  mere  luck,  and  being  a  good 
player  at  cards,  he  lived  upon  his  gains  for  a  long  time. 
The  Count  of  Guiche,  who  afterward  became  a  marshal, 
wrote  that  when  he  came  to  Paris  the  courtiers  and  finan- 
ciers had  plenty  of  money,  and  played  passionately  and 
recklessly.  This  adroit  young  Gascon  needed  only  to 
profit  by  his  opportunities,  and  live  in  splendor  without 
asking  aid  from  his  family.  It  was  said  that  when  he  had 
become  old  and  distinguished,  he  was  as  unfortunate  at 
cards  as  he  had  been  successful  when  a  lad.  In  one  year 
Bassompierre's  net  profits  at  tric-trac  were  600,000  francs. 
Gallet  won  over  2  000,000  and  died  a  beggar." 

The  government  declared  that  excessive  play  was  ruin- 
ing the  best  families,  and  endeavored  to  close  the  public 
gambling  houses.  But  the  highest  play  was  at  private 
houses.  Some  even  extended  their  hospitality  so  far  as 
to  furnish  the  money  with  which  their  guests  could  bet. 
After  a  dinner  with  the  Duke  of  Lerma,  two  bags,  each 
with  a  thousand  pistoles,  were  placed  upon  the  table  for 
the  use  of  those  who  wished  to  play.  If  we  can  believe 
Retz,  the  taste  extended  to  some  of  the  judges,  and  he 
charges  the  members  of  the  Parliament  of  Bordeaux  with 
recklessly  gambling.'  In  1657  the  ladies  complained  that 
the  men  were  so  devoted  to  cards,  it  kept  them  from  par- 
ties and  society.* 

Duelling  was  somewhat  checked  by  Richelieu,  but  the 

'  Mercure,  1617,  162.     Ormesson,  336.      Gourville,  529,  530.     Voyage  i 
Paris,  160.    Campion,  117.    Gramont,  237,  238.    Bassompierre,  123.    Talle- 
mant,  x.,  6-8.     There  are  innumerable  references  to  high  play  in  the  me- 
moirs of  the  time.      *  Richelieu,  xxi.,  43.     Orleans,  602.     Retz,  ii.,  231. 
*  Voyage  i  Paris,  53. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND  CUSTOMS.  419 

practice  still  continued.  Nothing  could  be  more  frivolous 
than  the  grounds  for  these  meetings,  and  nothing  more 
ferocious  than  the  encounters.  One  gentleman  praised 
the  memory  of  another.  The  latter  said  a  good  memory 
implied  small  judgment,  and  he  insisted  on  a  duel  to 
avenge  this  affront.'  The  seconds  must  fight  also,  but 
gentlemen  were  reckless  of  life,  and  an  invitation  to  act 
as  a  second  was  regarded  as  a  favor.  No  less  than  twelve 
took  part  in  one  encounter,  five  seconds  on  each  side.* 
Pontis  says,  that  during  the  eight  years  of  the  regency  of 
Anne  of  Austria,  935  gentlemen  were  known  to  have  been 
killed  in  duels.'  Even  this  was  an  improvement  on  the 
condition  of  affairs  twenty  years  before,  and  during  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIV.  this  absurd  and  pernicious  practice  was 
largely  checked.  One  brave  but  cruel  gentleman,  Riche- 
lieu said,  had  killed  seventeen  men  in  duels.*  To  be  a 
gallant  man  was  the  great  desire  of  a  French  nobleman, 
and  the  fear  of  forfeiting  this  title  led  him  to  many  ab- 
surdities. La  Tuye  and  Binau  fought  on  horseback,  and 
La  Tuye  was  shot  through  the  body.  His  horse  turned 
and  the  wounded  man  could  not  control  it.  "You  are 
flying,"  cried  his  adversary.  La  Tuye  died  on  the  same 
day,  saying  his  only  regret  was  that  it  could  be  said 
he  had  fled.*  The  same  spirit  made  the  bravery  of  the 
gentlemen  in  battle  often  become  mere  foolhardiness. 
The  Marquis  of  Seneterre  invited  his  friends  to  dine  with 
him  in  the  trenches  of  a  city  they  were  besieging.  They 
dined  there  in  the  open  air,  finding  a  zest  in  the  cannon 
balls  that  flew  about  them.  Before  the  dinner  was  over  a 
ball  struck  the  marquis,  and  he  was  killed  at  table  in  the 
midst  of  his  guests.  Such  exploits,  which  would  now  ex- 
cite contempt,  then  aroused  admiration.  The  brave  man 
was  not  he  who  met  danger  when  it  was  required,  but  who 
sought  peril  when  it  was  useless  The  young  cavaliers 
committed  innumerable  acts  of  reckless  bravado  which 
often    interfered   with   the   discipline   of  the   army,  but 

'  Cited  in  D'Avenel,  ii.,  83.  *  Mem.  de  Bussy  Rabutin,  i.,  196. 

*  Pontis,  655.  *  Richelieu,  xxi..  246.  *  Tallemant,  x.,  13. 


420      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  AIAZARIN. 

gained  for  them  a  reputation  for  daring.  The  French 
sought  death,  it  was  said,  as  if  the  resurrection  were  to- 
morrow.' 

The  nobleman  of  this  time,  though  he  was  becoming  a 
courtier,  had  not  as  yet  entirely  lost  the  roughness  or  the 
violent  habits  that  belonged  to  the  feudal  era.  Acts  of 
violence  were  common,  which  a  century  later  had  become 
rare.  There  were  various  instances  of  women  carried  off 
by  force,  and  detained  by  some  gentleman  and  his  retainers 
in  defiance  of  their  families  and  of  the  law.  Mademoiselle 
de  Sainte  Croix,  an  heiress  with  eighty  thousand  francs  a 
year,  was  seized  by  the  friends  of  one  lover  and  put  in  a 
convent  to  prevent  her  marriage  with  a  rival.  The  father, 
with  several  men,  attacked  the  convent ;  a  crowd  gathered, 
and  four  or  five  were  injured.' 

Doradour,  with  a  hundred  gentlemen,  burst  by  night 
into  the  house  of  an  artillery  officer  in  Paris,  and  carried 
o£f  his  daughter.  By  appeals  to  Richelieu's  influence,  she 
was  at  last  restored.* 

The  frequent  struggles  over  precedence  at  public  occa- 
sions often  ended  in  violence.  The  Duke  of  Epernon 
quarrelled  with  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux.  He  called 
him  an  insolent  imbecile,  and  followed  this  by  knocking 
off  the  archbishop's  hat  and  beating  him.*  Bautru,  of  the 
Academy,  had  ridiculed  the  Countess  of  Vertus,  and  her 
men  caned  him  and  wounded  him  in  the  head." 

Even  those  whose  positions  would  seem  to  forbid  such 
excesses  were  sometimes  equally  violent.  The  members 
of  the  Parliament  and  of  the  Chamber  of  Accounts  quar- 
relled about  the  order  in  which  they  should  march  at  a 
procession  in  Notre  Dame.  First  the  judges  pushed  each 
other,  and  then  they  came  to  blows  in  the  church,  and  it 
needed  the  olHcers  to  restore  order.*  Precedence  was 
nowhere  insisted  upon  with  more  vigor  or  violence  than 
in  church.     Even  Vauban,  who  was  willing  to  give  up 

'  Mem.  de  I'Abbe  Arnauld,  518.  *  Mem.  de  Richelieu,  xxii.,  570. 

•Journal  d'Ormesson,  471.  Mch.,  1648,     *  Tallemant,  iii.,  io2. 
•Lettres  de  Richelieu,  vi.,  39.  •  Mem.  de  Bassompierre,  356. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  42 1 

many  of  the  privileges  of  the  nobility,  insisted  that  they 
should  be  distinguished  by  having  separate  seats  given 
them  in  church.' 

Education  among  the  upper  classes  was  often  very  su- 
perficial. From  thirteen  to  sixteen  the  young  noble 
usually  began  his  military  service.  Before  that,  the  two 
things  which  he  studied  most  and  understood  best  were 
riding  and  dancing.  It  was  necessary  that  a  soldier  should 
ride  well,  and  equally  necessary  that  a  courtier  should 
dance  well ;  and  in  these  two  accomplishments  it  was 
said  the  French  masters  exceeded  those  of  all  other  na- 
tions. "  Without  dancing  a  gentleman  can  do  nothing," 
said  the  professor  in  the  Bourgeois  Gentilhomme.  "  There 
is  nothing  so  necessary  as  dancing."  His  statement  was 
hardly  exaggerated.  Dancing  was  then  a  complicated 
art,  and  the  graceful  performance  of  long  and  involved 
figures  showed  the  person  familiar  with  good  society.  The 
Abb6  Arnauld  noticed  the  difference  in  the  balls  in  Italy, 
where  the  ladies  sat  separate  from  the  men,  and  their 
dancing  was  no  more  than  walking  in  cadence.' 

The  brief  studies  of  most  of  the  young  nobles  left  but  a 
small  trace  of  learning,  and  the  education  of  girls  was 
often  still  more  neglected.  After  Richelieu's  niece  was 
married  to  the  Duke  of  Enghien,  she  was  sent  to  the  con- 
vent of  the  Carmelites  to  learn  to  read  and  write.*  Few 
of  the  great  ladies  of  society  and  the  Fronde  could  spell 
correctly.*  It  may  be  said  that  spelling  had  not  then  be- 
come an  exact  art,  and  people  often  spelled  even  their 
own  names  in  different  ways.  There  was  indeed  a  circle 
of  highly  educated  women  at  this  time,  but  many  of  these 
were  members  of  Parliamentary  families. 

An  aristocracy  that  was  idle,  and  of  which  a  large  por- 

'  Disme  Royale,  ch.  10. 

•Mem.  de  I'Abbe  Arnauld,  574.  Life  in  Italy  was  in  every  way  simpler 
than  in  France,  and  it  was  said  that  100,000  livres  there  went  as  far  as  300,- 
000  in  France.     Let.  de  Richelieu,  vi.,  761. 

*  Mem.  de  Montpensier,  14.     Let.  de  Richelieu,  vi.,  790. 

*  Cousin  "  Jeunesse  de  Mme.  de  Longueville,"  23.  The  fact  is  apparent 
to  any  one  who  reads  their  correspondence,  which  has  been  preserved. 


422       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

tion  was  unfitted  for  any  active  work  except  war,  gradu- 
ally lost  its  influence  in  the  nation.  Its  members  were 
lazy,  agreeable,  well-bred,  and  useless.  In  the  sixteenth 
century  the  gentleman  lived  less  at  Court,  and  his  estate 
was  usually  sufiicient  for  the  expenses  which  he  incurred. 
But  in  the  seventeenth  century  the  life  of  the  courtier  had 
become  expensive.  Commerce  and  trade  were  forbidden. 
The  lucrative  offices  were  largely  held  by  those  of  in- 
ferior birth,  and  except  by  pensions  from  the  crown,  it 
was  impossible  to  replace  the  fortunes  spent  in  extrav- 
agance. The  judicial  and  most  of  the  executive  offices- 
were  not  filled  by  members  of  the  ancient  aristocracy. 
This  result  was  not  produced  entirely,  or  in  large  part, 
by  any  jealousy  of  the  sovereign.  Though  they  occa- 
sionally demanded  some  part  of  these  lucrative  and  influ- 
ential positions,  the  nobles  really  did  not  desire  places 
that  required  industry  and  special  training.  It  was  justly 
said  at  the  States-General  in  1614,  that  it  was  not  the 
paulette  that  kept  them  from  the  judicial  offices,  but 
because  they  had  been  trained  to  believe  that  study  and 
learning  were  inconsistent  with  valor.  Their  influence 
slowly  diminished.  New  men  acquired  great  fortunes 
from  the  development  of  commerce  or  from  dealings  with 
the  state.  Writers  ceased  to  be  the  dependents  of  great 
nobles,  and  began  to  exercise  a  large  influence  upon  the 
public.  The  nobility  continued  to  hold  privileges  which 
had  become  odious,  without  rendering  services  that  should 
compensate  for  them,  and  without  possessing  the  ability 
with  which  to  protect  them.' 

At  a  great  ball  given  by  the  chancellor  in  1657,  a  for- 
eigner familiar  with  French  society  said  one  could  easily 
distinguish  the  daughters  and  wives  of  people  of  the  city, 
or  of  the  robe,  from  the  ladies  of  the  Court.  The  former  in 
their  air  and  bearing  appeared  like  chamber-maids.*  Al- 
lowing for  some  prejudice  in  the  critic,  his  remarks  were 

'  The  causes  of  the  decline  of  the  French  nobility  are  well  discussed  by 
the  Vicomte  d'  Avenel  in  "La  Monarchie  Absolue,"  and  by  Taine  in 
"  L'Ancien  Regime."  *  Voyage  A  Paris,  1657,  411. 


I 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  423 

doubtless  not  wholly  unjust.  The  daughters  and  wives 
of  the  merchants  and  judges  were,  for  the  most  part, 
neither  as  well  educated  nor  as  well-bred  as  the  same 
classes  to-day.  They  were  outside  the  charmed  circle  of 
perfect  good  breeding,  and  consciousness  of  the  fact  made 
them  ill  at  ease.  They  could  not  attain  to  the  perfect 
repose  of  manner  of  those  who  belonged  to  the  aristoc- 
racy. They  were  disturbed  by  ordinary  and  domestic  cares 
and  troubles,  and  the  gentlemen  and  ladies  of  the  Court 
were  raised  above  these. 

However  much  such  a  life  may  have  unfitted  the  no- 
bility for  being  of  use  in  the  world,  it  doubtless  perfected 
their  manners.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  charm  of  manner 
and  conversation  which  then  existed  in  the  best  society 
of  France  can  now  be  found  in  any  class.  Talleyrand 
said  that  only  those  who  had  lived  before  1789  knew  the 
charm  of  life.  The  changed  conditions  of  a  world,  where 
all  are  so  nearly  equal,  has  rubbed  off  a  certain  ineffable 
grace.  There  are  women  now  as  beautiful  as  Mme.  de 
Longueville,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  any  possess  her  de- 
licious languor  of  manner.  When  Arthur  Young  was 
at  Paris  at  the  beginning  of  the  French  Revolution,  he 
spoke  with  amazement  of  the  perfect  unconcern  of  the 
nobles  at  events  which  were  to  decide  the  future  of  their 
own  class  and  of  the  French  monarchy.  He  dined  with 
them  when  the  National  Assembly  was  organizing,  and 
its  members  taking  the  oath  of  the  Jeu  de  Paume,  They 
talked  about  tennis  and  trinkets.'  This  was  due  in  part 
doubtless  to  the  want  of  any  political  knowledge.  They 
felt  the  unconcern  of  children  at  political  events,  because 
they  comprehended  them  no  more  than  children.  But 
they  possessed  also  the  breeding  which  enables  one  to 
meet  the  vicissitudes  of  life  and  the  overthrow  of  fortune 
without  change  of  countenance.  They  witnessed  their 
own  ruin  with  as  much  indifference  of  manner  as  they  had 
witnessed  the  ruin  of  others.  With  unruffled  faces  they 
left  the  chateaux  of  their  grandsires  and  the  levies  of 
their  king  to  give  dancing  lessons  in  Piccadilly. 

'  "  Travels  in  France,"  i.,  206,  etc.,  French  translation. 


424      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

The  great  value  attached  to  many  political  and  judicial 
offices  has  already  appeared.  Notwithstanding  the  large 
number  of  offices  created,  the  prices  paid  for  them  in- 
creased rapidly.  Some  of  them  were,  legitimately  or 
illegitimately,  very  lucrative.  All  of  them  furnished  a 
sure  income  and  the  sensation  of  official  dignity,'  while 
from  comparatively  very  few  was  any  burdensome  service 
required.  The  office  of  colonel  of  the  Swiss  guards  sold 
for  800,000  francs  ;  that  of  first  gentleman  of  the  chamber 
for  1,000,000,  nearly  four  times  as  much  as  it  brought  40 
years  before.  For  the  chancellorship  of  the  order  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  340,000  livres  or  almost  700,000  francs  were 
paid.  The  position  of  general  of  the  galleys  brought 
1,400,000  francs.'  The  prices  of  judicial  offices  were 
equally  high.  The  place  of  president  k  mortier  of  the 
Parliament  of  Paris  was  worth  1,000,000  francs,  or  nearly 
200,000  dollars.  The  office  of  first  president  of  the 
provincial  Parliament  at  Grenoble  brought  only  quarter 
of  this  sum.  The  office  of  master  of  requests  sold  for 
400,000  francs,  and  1,500,000  livres  or  600,000  dollars  was 
paid  for  the  office  of  attorney-general.' 

Even  religious  offices  were  sometimes  transferred  for  a 
money  consideration.  The  charge  of  grand  almoner  of 
the  queen  was  sold  to  the  bishop  of  Alet  for  30,000  livres, 
Richelieu  took  the  money  and  bought  Limours.  His 
bishopric  of  Lu9on  was  also  disposed  of,  after  he  had  be- 
come cardinal,  to  the  dean  of  Saint  Martin  of  Tours.  He 
received  for  it  the  deanery  of  Saint  Martin  and  the  abbey 
of  Saint  Vast,  and  also  reserved  a  pension  of  five  thousand 
livres  on  the  revenues  of  the  bishopric  of  Lu^on.  The 
deanery  and  abbey  were  stated  to  be  worth  seven  thousand 
three  hundred  livres  a  year,  and  were  to  be  conveyed  clear 
of  any  charges.  Each  party  agreed  to  obtain  the  consent 
of  the  king  and  the  Pope  to  his  own  resignation,  and  to  the 

'  ycxj.ooo  livres.  Choisy,  585.  Bassompierre,  329.  Ormesson,  268,  492. 
The  office  of  first  gentleman,  which  sold  for  550,000  livres  in  1648,  sold  for 
150,000  in  1609.     Let.  de  Richelieu,  vii.,  93. 

'Journal  d'  Ormesson,  6,  185,  426. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  425 

appointment  of  his  successor.  These  transfers  were  exe- 
cuted in  proper  form  and  preserved  among  the  official 
papers.  There  was  no  concealment  about  them,  and  ap- 
parently no  feeling  of  any  impropriety  in  selling  or  trading 
religious  offices.  A  deanery  or  bishopric  was  transferr'iu 
in  as  business-like  a  manner  as  a  right  to  cut  wood  or  pas- 
ture cattle,' 

Corruption  prevailed  to  a  great  extent,  and  bribes  were 
given  to  those  in  positions,  where  now  such  practices  are 
rare  or  unknown.  The  corrupt  use  of  official  position  was 
almost  universal.  Prime-ministers,  secretaries  of  state, 
superintendents  of  finance,  all  grew  rich  by  practices  that 
would  now  destroy  the  reputation  of  any  public  man,  and 
which,  even  if  they  are  occasionally  discovered,  are  no 
longer  common.  Money  was  used  to  buy  the  support  of 
cardinals  and  bishops  of  the  church  ;  it  was  distributed 
among  the  judges  of  the  Parliament ;  it  was  given  to  the 
representatives  of  the  provinces  in  their  local  States  ;  even 
the  favor  of  the  Pope  was  purchased  by  abbeys  for  his 
nephew  and  money  for  his  sister-in-law.'  One  hundred 
thousand  livres  were  used  in  corruption  among  the  deputies 
at  the  Protestant  Assembly  at  Saumur.'  Richelieu  made  out 
a  list  of  the  prominent  Swiss  who  should  receive  "  gratifica- 
tions" from  the  French  agents.*  Mazarin's  representatives 
reported  to  him  the  money  they  were  o'«  liged  to  spend  in 
obtaining  the  election  of  a  satisfactory  archbishop  of 
Mayence.  Forty-three  thousand  five  hundred  livres  were 
paid  in  all  for  the  election.  The  Baron  of  Reissemberg  had 
hopes  of  being  chosen  archbishop,  but  he  agreed  for  ten 
thousand  crowns  to  relinquish  his  own  claims  for  ecclesiasti- 
cal promotion,  and  to  support  the  bishop  of  Wurtzburg  in- 
stead of  the  bish9p  of  Worms.  Fifteen  hundred  livres  had 
to  be  given  the  vice-chancellor  of  the  archbishop  of  Treves, 

'  Lettres  de  Richelieu,  vii.,  525,  530,  531.  The  contract  for  the  bishopric 
of  Lu9on  is  printed  on  page  531.  These  curious  instruments  have  not,  I 
think,  been  noticed  by  prior  writers  on  this  period. 

'Numerous  statements  of  such  transactions  are  found  in  the  letters  of 
Richelieu  and  in  the  letters,  and  especially  the  Garnets,  of  Mazarin. 

*  Rohan,  497.  *  Let.  de  Richelieu,  viii.,367. 


426        FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

and  the  rest  of  the  money  was  judiciously  used  among  the 
clergy  of  the  chapter.'  Money  was  sent  to  Holland,  and  to 
the  congress  at  Miinster,  to  influence  the  representatives  of 
other  powers.  Ninety-two  thousand  livres  were  paid  the 
commissioners  of  Holland  who  had  obtained  for  France  a 
treaty  with  their  own  country."  Some  English  politicians,  it 
has  been  discovered,  were  in  the  pay  of  Louis  XIV.  There 
was  nothing  extraordinary  in  such  a  thing  at  that  era.  In 
every  country  there  were  men  of  prominence  who  received 
money  from  other  governments.  While  such  dealings  were, 
to  some  extent,  kept  secret,  their  discovery  was  not  fatal  to 
the  reputation  of  those  who  had  them.  The  fear  of  being 
placed  in  a  compromising  situation  was  little  felt.  An  am- 
bassador or  a  minister  rendered  friendly  services  to  a  foreign 
power,  and  it  was  only  just  that  he  should  be  paid  for  his 
good  oflflces.  Richelieu  wrote  the  French  ambassadors  at 
London  to  employ  money  with  the  English  who  could  be  of 
service.  The  ministers  had  advised  the  cardinal  that  such 
a  course  would  be  judicious,  and  they  were  authorized  to 
advance  or  promise  whatever  amounts  they  thought  best.* 

The  dishonesty  which  existed  among  those  who  were 
oflficials  of  the  government  or  had  dealings  with  it,  has 
already  been  noticed.  There  were  some  who  were  poor 
Tvhen  they  retired  from  public  office,  but  they  were  a  small 
minority ;  there  may  have  been  those  who  did  not  seek 
fraudulent  or  unconscionable  gains  when  they  contracted 
with  the  state,  but  their  names  have  not  been  preserved. 

There  does  not  seem  to  have  been  much  corruption  in 
judicial  decisions.  The  judges  of  the  highest  courts  were 
rich,  and  the  salaries  and  fees  of  their  offices  yielded  a 
large  income.  They  were  beyond  the  reach  of  bribery  in 
any  ordinary  litigation,  and  the  most  of  them  drew  from 
the  spirit  of  their  order  a  stubborn  independence,  which 
could  not  be  influenced  by  money.  The  government  ob- 
tained the  political  support  of   some  of  the  judges  by 

'  Negociations  Secretes  touchant  la  Paixde  Westphalie,  iii.,  519-522.    Re- 
ports of  Vautarte.  '  Lettres  de  Richelieu,  v.,  534. 
•Lettres  de  Richelieu,  ii.,  254. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  427 

favors  and  pensions,  but  it  did  not  ordinarily  interfere 
with  their  judicial  duties.  The  average  character  of  the 
members  of  the  provincial  Parliaments  was  not  equal  to 
that  of  the  judges  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  and  there 
was  more  complaint  of  misconduct  among  them,  Pontis 
describes  a  long  litigation  he  had  with  a  rich  financier. 
He  solicited  all  the  judges  and  spared  neither  trouble  nor 
money.  His  opponent  spent  in  the  controversy  nearly 
400,000  Hvres.'  It  was  claimed  that  some  of  the  judges  fav- 
ored officials  and  attorneys  who  brought  suits  before  them^ 
and  thus  furnished  them  the  opportunity  for  gaining  fees.* 
But  usually  the  complaints  were  more  of  the  delays  of 
litigation  and  the  large  fees  which  the  judges  took,  than 
of  the  corrupt  decisions  rendered  by  them. 

Personal  influences  were,  however,  resorted  to,  and  were 
not  regarded  as  discreditable.  When  persons  of  distinc- 
tion had  important  cases,  their  relatives  aad  influential 
friends  would  surround  the  judges  as  they  came  from 
court,  and  they  received,  without  objection,  private  visits 
and  personal  solicitation.  Richelieu  wrote  M0I6  that  as 
the  Seigneur  Beauregard  had  rendered  the  king  good  ser- 
vice and  was  a  friend  of  his  own,  he  hoped  that  in  the 
litigation  he  now  had  before  the  Parliament  the  first  presi- 
dent would  give  him  the  most  favorable  decision  that  was 
possible.*  Similar  letters  are  often  found  in  his  corres- 
pondence and  in  that  of  persons  of  importance.*  Such 
endeavors  to  influence  justice  were  not  thought  improper 
in  those  who  made  them,  or  for  the  judges  who  allowed 
them.  But  it  is  probable  that  when  such  methods  of  per- 
suading the  judicial  mind  were  suffered  by  the  judges, 
the  likelihood  was  small  of  a  common  man  obtaining 
justice  against  a  great  prince.* 

The  nobility  of  the  robe  constituted  a  large  and  influ- 
ential body.  Not  only  their  character  and  their  habits, 
but  even  their  dress,  distinguished  them  from  the  nobility 

'  Mem.  de  Pontis,  518-521.  'Rapport  sur  Touraine. 

•Mem.  de  Mole,  ii.,  403,  404.      *  Lettres  de  Richelieu,  ii.,  433,  etpas, 
*  See  remarks  of  Florimond  Rapine,  supra. 


V 


428      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

of  the  sword.  While  the  marquis  was  arrayed  in  a  cloak 
of  many  colors,  the  president  of  the  Parliament  wore  the 
black  gown  of  the  scholar.  On  occasions  of  special  im- 
portance a  gown  of  red  marked  his  dignity,  but  the  sim- 
plicity of  his  dress  always  contrasted  with  the  elaborate 
and  costly  garments  of  the  courtier.  Though  many  judges 
had  their  country  houses  and  lived  in  much  splendor,  still 
their  ordinary  mode  of  life  was  simpler  than  that  of  the 
class  above  them.  There  was  also  less  immorality  among 
them.  Domestic  tastes  and  virtues  have  generally  pre- 
vailed among  this  class  in  France,  as  well  as  among  the 
bourgeoisie.  The  character  of  the  ladies  who  were  among 
the  leaders  of  the  Fronde  gives  an  air  of  license  to  the 
age,  which  did  not  extend  through  all  ranks  in  society. 
The  wives  of  the  counsellors  of  the  Parliament  and  the 
aldermen  of  the  city  were  less  bewitching,  and  more  dis- 
creet. 

The  prices  paid  for  judicial  offices  show  how  large  the 
income  must  have  been  which  was  derived  from  them.  A 
master  of  requests,  holding  a  position  of  less  dignity  and 
value  than  a  member  of  the  Parliament,  speaks  of  receiv- 
ing sixty-three  livres  in  one  day  for  his  fees.'  This  in 
money  value  would  be  nearly  twenty-five  dollars,  and  in 
relative  value  would  represent  seventy-five  dollars  for  a 
day's  work.  The  opportunity  of  earning  a  large  income 
often  came  to  a  man  very  young.  When  only  eighteen, 
the  son  of  the  former  First  President  of  the  Chamber  of 
Accounts  received  that  important  and  lucrative  office.' 

The  attorneys  and  solicitors  who  practised  in  these 
courts  constituted  altogether  a  large  body,  but  apparently 
their  average  income  was  not  large.  Vauban  estimates 
at  3CX)  livres  the  average  income  of  the  attorneys.*  This 
would  be  600  francs,  or  120  dollars,  and  is  certainly  not 
large.  Many  of  course  earned  much  more  than  this,  but 
the  satires  of  the  time  said  that  while  a  woman  must  have 
30,000  livres  for  her  dowry  to  hope  to  marry  an  advocate, 
and  at  least  75,000  before  she  could  aspire  to  a  counsellor 

'  Journal  d'Ormesson,  i.,  8.  '  lb.,  747.  '  Disme  Royale,  84. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  429 

of  the  Parliament,  12,000  was  quite  enough  to  entitle  her 
to  marry  an  attorney.  A  president  of  the  Parliament  of 
Paris  was  regarded  as  so  elevated  a  personage  that  he  was 
placed  at  300,000  livres,  and  in  the  same  class  with  a  duke 
or  a  genuine  marquis.* 

The  physicians  were  at  this  time  obtaining  a  better 
position.  The  practice  of  calling  apothecaries,  who 
had  no  medical  education,  and  who  sold  their  patients 
vast  amounts  of  drugs,  was  gradually  ceasing,  and  regular 
physicians  were  at  once  sent  for  by  the  patient."  The  treat- 
ment which  they  inflicted  was  sufficiently  severe.  Bleeding 
was  in  full  vigor,  and  one  man  was  bled  sixty-four  times  in 
eight  months  for  rheumatism.*  The  pay  received  by  physi- 
cians seems  to  have  been  moderate.  Patin,  who  was  among 
the  leading  physicians  in  Paris,  regarded  himself  as  hand- 
somely paid  when  he  received  three  livres,  or  about  a 
dollar  and  twenty  cents  for  a  consultation.*  A  doctor  of 
less  standing  did  the  bleeding  that  was  required  for  the 
servants  of  Cardinal  Retz  for  fifteen  sous,  or  thirty  cents, 
for  each  operation.'  Physicians  ordinarily  rode  on  mules 
in  making  their  visits. 

Much  earlier  hours  were  kept  then  than  now.  A  nur- 
sery rhyme  declared  that  he  who  rose  at  six  and  retired 
at  ten,  would  live  to  be  ten  times  ten.  The  difficulty  in 
obtaining  sufficient  light  to  make  the  evenings  agreeable 
was  perhaps  one  reason  why  most  of  the  working  hours 
were  during  the  day  time.  The  rich  used  wax  candles, 
and  at  great  balls  and  fetes  it  was  declared  that  the 
rooms  were  as  light  as  the  day.  Wax  was  very  expen- 
sive, and  it  was  said  that  a  gentleman,  after  losing  great 
amounts  at  play,  would  go  home,  blow  out  a  candle,  and 

'  Roman  Bourgeois,  33.  The  scale  given  of  the  fortune  requisite  for 
marriage,  however  imaginary,  is  good  evidence  of  the  relative  social  rank  of 
various  occupations  at  this  time. 

•Lettres  de  Guy  Patin,  i.,  57-59.  ,  *  lb.,  353. 

*  lb.,  4.  Physicians  curious  about  the  practices  and  theories  of  their  pre- 
decessors of  this  age,  will  find  a  great  deal  of  information  on  the  subject  ia 
these  volumes  of  very  agreeable  letters  written  by  Guy  Patin. 

•  Tallemant,  vii.,  55. 


43©         FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

reproach  his  butler  for  the  extravagance  in  lights.'  The 
most  of  the  community  were  content  with  ordinary  candles, 
and  the  poor  used  very  imperfect  oil  lamps.  Most  per- 
sons were  usually  up  at  six.  The  courts  ordinarily  began 
their  sessions  at  eight.  Other  public  bodies  met  equally 
early,  and  a  night  session  would  have  been  regarded  as 
very  extraordinary.  Processions  of  the  courts  and  city 
officers  started  as  early  as  half-past  six.'  Breakfast  was 
served  at  seven,  and  the  usual  hour  for  dinner  was  twelve." 
In  the  early  part  of  the  century  it  was  sometimes  at 
eleven.  In  the  regulations  given  for  a  medical  college, 
Richelieu  directed  that  the  students  and  doctors  should 
dine  at  eleven  and  sup  at  six,  and  that  the  outer  gate 
should  be  locked  at  nine  and  the  keys  kept  by  the  dean.* 
The  hour  of  dinner  by  the  time  of  the  Fronde  was,  how- 
ever, often  as  late  as  one  o'clock,  and  the  supper  at  seven 
or  eight.*  Louis  the  XIV.  dined  at  twelve,  but  his  at- 
tendants had  to  wait  until  he  had  finished,  and  Mme.  de 
S6vign6  said  that  by  one  o'clock  she  was  famishing.* 
Children  as  old  as  ten  were  in  bed  by  seven  o'clock.^ 

The  meals  that  were  eaten  varied,  of  course,  with  the 
wealth  of  the  family.  The  heavy  pomp  of  the  feudal  din- 
ner was  disappearing.  Louis  XIV.  was  fond  of  flowers, 
and  they  were  used  profusely  at  fashionable  dinners,  as 
well  as  at  balls.  Complaint  was  made  of  the  luxury  and 
expense  of  such  entertainments.  Patin  speaks  of  fifteen 
courses  at  a  dinner,  as  showing  the  excessive  luxury  of 
the  age.*  Even  eight  courses  were  regarded  as  making  a 
very  elaborate  dinner.  An  ordinance  of  1629  forbade 
having  more  than  three  services,  or  more  than  six  dishes 
for  each.  Entertainments  were  often  given  by  those 
who  were  to  be  received  into  some  office,  and  the  price  of 
these  was  limited  to  100  francs.  Three  livres  a  guest  was 
the  utmost  that  could  be  paid  for  the  feast  at  marriages  or 

'  Marechal  d'Estr^es,  Tallemant,  ii.,  55. 

'  Registres  Hoiel  de  Ville,  ii.,  370.     This  was  in  June. 

*  Mole,  ii.,  94.     Retz,  iii.,  289.      *  Lettres  de  Richelieu,  iv.,  77,  1630. 

*  Registres  de  I'Hotelde  Ville,  i.,  369.     •  Le Grand  d'Aussy,  i.,  308,  309. 
^  Mem.  de  Montpensier,  9.  'Lettres,  i.,  193. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  43 1 

any  such  festivities.'  Such  a  law  was  not  regarded,  and 
the  physicians  complained  that  the  Parisians  ate  and 
drank  liberally,  while  taking  less  exercise  than  their 
health  required.'  Some  dishes  that  are  common  now  were 
not  in  use  then.  Potatoes  had  not  been  introduced  into 
France.  Even  a  century  later,  they  were  regarded  as  a 
dish  fit  only  for  the  gross  palate  and  vigorous  stomach  of 
the  vulgar,  but  not  adapted  to  more  delicate  tastes.'  Peas, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  esteemed  a  great  luxury,  and 
fabulous  prices  were  paid  for  early  green  peas.  Epicures 
of  wealth  and  fashion  would  have  peas  on  their  tables, 
costing  more  than  the  choicest  strawberries  in  mid-winter 
cost  now.  Madame  de  Maintenon  wrote  of  the  impatience 
to  eat  peas,  the  pleasure  of  having  eaten  them,  and  the 
anticipation  of  eating  more.  Oranges  were  also  regarded 
as  a  great  delicacy.  The  son  in  "  L'  Avare  "  says  that  he 
has  purchased  China  oranges  for  his  mistress,  to  indicate 
a  costly  delicacy.  Ice  was  a  great  rarity.  The  man  who 
used  ice  to  cool  his  wine  in  the  summer  was  looked  upon 
as  a  Sybarite.*  Tea  was  little  drunk.  It  was  introduced 
about  1636,  but  it  made  its  way  slowly.  In  1648  a  doctor 
read  a  thesis  before  the  physicians  to  prove  that  the  use 
of  tea  increased  the  sharpness  of  the  intellect,  but  this  view 
was  not  adopted  by  his  brethren.'  Chocolate  was  intro- 
duced still  later.  Some  said  it  first  became  familiar  to 
the  French  on  the  marriage  of  Maria  Theresa  in  1660,  but 
it  was  claimed  that  the  cardinal  of  Lyons  had  used  it  seven 
years  before.  It  was  regarded  with  suspicion,  as  in  the  na- 
ture of  a  drug.  Madame  de  S^vign^  at  first  recommended 
its  use  to  her  daughter,  but  she  wrote,  afterwards,  that  it 
was  accused  of  causing  palpitation,  and  being  very  dele- 
terious in  its  effects.  Mme.de  Grignan  claimed,  however, 
that  she  found  it  both  beneficial  and  agreeable.  Coffee 
was  drunk  in  France  in  1658,  but  it  does  not  seem  to 
have  become  at  all  popular,  until  the  visit  of  the  embas- 

'  Anc.  Lois  fran9aises,  xvi.,  264-5.  *  Lettres  de  Patin  k  Plon,  353. 

•  Le  Grand  d'  Aussy,  i.,  145.  *  Le  Grand  d' Aus^.  Hi.,  3a 

*  Lettres  de  Patin,  iii.,  116. 


432       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

sador  of  the  Grand  Seigneur  in  1669  made  it  fashionable 
among  some  classes.  There  were  no  caf^s  at  Paris  while 
Mazarin  was  minister,  and  their  introduction  came  some 
years  later. 

Their  place  was  filled  by  the  taverns  or  wine  shops, 
which  were  somewhat  similar  to  the  London  chop  houses. 
These  were  frequented  by  young  nobles  of  the  highest 
rank,  who  met  there  and  discussed  their  pleasures  and 
politics.  When  Beaufort  and  his  companions  were  plan- 
ning the  murder  of  Mazarin  in  1643,  their  consultations 
were  generally  held  at  a  tavern.'  The  cardinal  com- 
plained that  his  opponents,  who  called  themselves  the  re- 
formers of  the  state,  were  a  class  of  men  whose  lives  were 
spent  in  the  taverns  of  Paris,  and  who  mingled  abuse  of 
him  with  deep  drinking  and  scandalous  debauchery.* 
There  was  much  excess  during  the  years  of  the  Fronde. 
Beaufort  and  Orleans  were  dissipated,  Retz  was  not  a 
severe  moralist,  and  the  ladies  who  were  their  companions 
were  not  strict  in  their  views.  At  some  of  their  festivities, 
it  was  said  that  both  men  and  women  indulged  too  freely 
in  wine.  The  carnival  of  1652  at  Paris  was  attended  with 
much  excess,  and  the  festivities  of  some  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Fronde  became  orgies."  When  the  Marshal  of  Gra- 
mont  was  entertained  at  Munich  by  the  Count  of  Kurz, 
the  toasts  were  so  numerous  that  the  master  of  cere- 
monies and  his  guests  were  all  under  the  table  when  the 
dinner  was  done.  This  was  the  German  fashion,  the 
marshal  said,  and  when  one  was  negotiating  with  them 
it  was  necessary  to  conform  to  their  customs.*  But  though 
intoxication  among  the  better  classes  in  France  was,  per- 
haps, not  as  rare  as  it  is  now,  it  was  not  common,  and 
their  habits  were  more  temperate  than  those  of  their  Eng- 
lish or  German  neighbors. 

This  era  was  fertile  in  producing  new  modes  of  amuse- 
ment.    It  witnessed  the  first  opera  in  France  and  the  first 

'  Mem.  d'  Henri  Campion,  231. 

'  Lettres  de  Mazarin  k  la  Reine,  19.     Letter  of  April,  1651. 

•  Aff.  Etr.  Fr.,  139,  p.  134.  *  Mem.  de  Gramont,  264. 


SOCIAL   LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  433 

production  of  the  plays  of  Corneille  and  Moli^re.  The 
Italian  opera  was  introduced  by  Mazarin,  who  was  fond  of 
such  amusements,  and  desired  those  of  his  native  country. 
Under  Richelieu  gorgeous  ballets  had  been  performed, 
filled  with  the  elaborate  allegory  that  gave  pleasure  at 
that  time.  These  were,  however,  surpassed  by  his  suc- 
cessor. In  1645  an  Italian  troupe  appeared  in  the  hall  of 
the  Petit  Bourbon,  a  palace  which  was  afterwards  destroyed 
to  make  room  for  the  enlargement  of  the  Louvre.  The 
opera  was  accompanied  by  decorations  and  changes  in  the 
scenery  such  as  had  not  been  seen  in  France,  and  by  a 
very  agreeable  ballet.*  In  1647  "  Orpheus  "  was  performed 
at  the  Palais  Royal  with  great  splendor,  and  at  an  expense 
which  was  estimated  at  four  hundred  thousand  livres.  It 
contained  three  acts  and  thirty-one  scenes,  and  the  elabo- 
rate allegory  would  be  tiresome  now,  though  both  the 
dancing  and  the  singing  were  good.  It  was  seen  with 
delight,  says  the  Gazette,  by  the  most  beautiful  and 
amiable  prince  in  the  world,  while  the  plot,  in  which  vice 
was  always  overcome  by  virtue,  rendered  it  worthy  of  the 
approval  of  so  pious  a  queen.'  Signora  Leonora  of  Rome 
was  the  prima  donna,  and  Torelli  had  charge  of  the  ma- 
chinery. The  piece  lasted  over  six  hours,  and  though  it 
was  pleasing  to  see  once,  from  the  changes  and  variety  in 
the  decorations,  it  became  tiresome  from  its  great  length. 
The  queen,  however,  did  not  miss  one  of  the  representa- 
tions, which  were  given  three  times  a  week  for  two  months, 
so  great  was  her  desire  to  please  Mazarin  and  show  an  in- 
terest in  the  amusements  which  he  devised.  Many  of  the 
courtiers  could  not  understand  Italian,  but  all  felt  bound 
to  listen  with  attention.*  Ormesson  gave  the  opinion 
of  the  Parisians,  that  the  voices  were  good,  but  as 
the  Italian  could  not  be  understood,  it  became  wearf- 
some.* 

The  opera  was  not  legally  established  during  Mazarin's 
life,  but  letters-patent  for  the  organization  of  the  Royal 

'  Palais  Mazarin,  29.  '  Gasette,  1647,  201-212. 

•Mem.  de  Montglat,  176.     Joly,  6.  'Journal  d'Ormesson,  378, 


434      FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN, 

Opera  were  afterwards  issued  by  Louis  XIV.,  and  are 

still  in  force. 

Ballets  were  often  performed  by  the  ladies  and  gentle- 
men of  the  Court,  and  were  one  of  their  favorite  amuse- 
ments. Their  skill  in  dancing  and  taste  in  dress  found  an 
opportunity  for  display  in  such  exhibitions.  The  great 
Cond6  appeared  in  the  ballet,  and  gained  applause  as  a 
dancer  as  well  as  a  warrior.  Those  who  took  part  wore 
masques  and  represented  various  characters — birds,  ani- 
mals, and  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  antiquity  and 
romance. 

Such  entertainments  were  not  thought  consistent  with 
religion  by  all.  Severe  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne  declared 
that  to  attend  the  opera  was  a  mortal  sin.  But  the  opin- 
ion of  twelve  doctors  was  obtained,  that  if  the  piece 
contained  nothing  contrary  to  good  morals  it  might  be 
listened  to  with  impunity,  and  the  conscience  of  the  queen 
was  set  at  ease.' 

The  Italian  comedy  met  with  the  approval  of  the  Paris- 
ians. Persons  who  were  not  familiar  with  Italian  declared 
the  acting  was  so  good  that  the  pieces  were  interesting 
and  could  be  followed  with  ease."  Ormesson  describes  a 
comedy  in  1645,  which  was  in  advance  of  the  plays  to 
which  the  Parisians  were  then  accustomed.  The  scenery 
represented  the  Pont  Neuf  and  Place  Dauphine,  and  also 
a  city,  and  a  garden  with  beautiful  columns.  Though 
there  were  but  four  or  five  feet  of  depth  for  the  scenery, 
yet  the  perspective  was  so  well  arranged  that  the  walks 
represented  in  the  garden  seemed  to  the  spectators  to  be 
lost  in  the  distance.  Ballets  were  danced  by  persons 
dressed  as  bears  and  apes,  and  also  as  Ethiopians  and 
parrots,  and  the  rising  of  the  sun  was  represented  in  a 
manner  that  was  deemed  marvellous.*  The  ballet  was 
common  at  the  theatres  before  the  introduction  of  the 
opera,  and  there  had  long  been  a  company  of  Italian 
comedians  at  Paris. 

'Mem.  de  Motteville,  lio.  *  Voyage  a  Paris,  197. 

*  Journal  d'Ormesson,  340,  341. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  435 

The  representations  of  the  various  troupes  were  some- 
times more  amusing  than  improving.  An  ordinance  of 
1641  forbade  any  immoral  representation,  or  the  use  of 
any  low  phrases  or  double  entendres,  and  directed  that 
such  breaches  of  good  morals  should  be  punished  accord- 
ing to  the  discretion  of  the  judges,'  The  theatres  were 
increasing  at  this  time  in  popularity,  and  the  character  of 
the  pieces  performed  at  some  of  them  justly  excited 
the  admiration  of  all.  In  1635  there  were  three  thea- 
tres: one  at  the  Hotel  Burgundy,  one  at  the  Marais,  and 
one  in  the  Faubourg  Saint  Germain.'  Theatrical  repre- 
sentations were  numerous  also  at  the  houses  of  the  great 
nobles.  At  one  at  the  Marshal  of  Estr^es',  all  the  gods 
and  goddesses  of  the  sea  appeared  in  the  ballet  and  cele- 
brated the  conquests  of  the  king  of  France.  In  1636  the 
Gazette  tells  us,  that  on  January  24th  Mademoiselle  had  a 
comedy  acted  for  the  queen  at  the  Tuileries  ;  on  the  27th, 
"  Clorisi,"  a  comedy  by  Baro,  was  acted  at  the  Hotel 
Richelieu  with  a  ballet;  on  the  31st  the  Duchess  of 
Rohan  had  a  ball  and  comedy.' 

What  was  more  important  for  the  history  of  the  stage, 
the  great  plays  of  Corneille  were  performed  for  the  entire 
public  as  well  as  for  the  Court,  and  they  were  warmly  re- 
ceived. The  criticisms  of  some  of  the  literary  men  of  the 
time  did  not  prevent  Corneille  from  gaining  fame  and 
popularity  in  his  own  day.  Richelieu,  whose  literary 
taste  was  not  accurate,  delayed  somewhat  in  his  patronage, 
but  he  at  last  granted  a  pension,  and  the  great  dramatist 
was  finally  received  into  their  midst  by  the  literati  of  the 
Academy. 

A  still  greater  man  won  his  success  under  Mazarin. 
After  many  disappointments,  and  varying  fortune  with  his 
wandering  troupe,  Moli^re  played  before  the  king  in  the 
Petit  Bourbon,  and  established  his  fame  by  "  L'Etourdi  "  in 
1658  and  "  Lcs  Pr^cieuses  Ridicules  "  in  1659.  His  troupe 
had  a  long  struggle  with  the  theatres  of  the  Marais  and 

'  Arrets  du  Parlement,  April  24,  1641.     Mole,  iv..  230,  231. 
*  GnzflU,  1635,   16.  *  Gazette,  1636. 


436       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne,  but  the  Theatre  Fran^ais 
when  it  was  established  was  to  be  known  to  posterity 
as  the  theatre  of  Moli^re.  The  increase  in  the  prices 
shows  how  different  the  representations  were  from  those 
that  had  been  given  at  Paris  in  the  early  part  of  the  cen- 
tury. Then  a  seat  in  the  pit  at  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne 
could  be  obtained  for  five  sous,  or  ten  to  twelve  cents.  A 
seat  in  a  box  cost  only  twice  as  much.  At  the  representa- 
tions of  "  Orpheus  "  at  the  Marais  in  1648,  after  the  prices 
had  been  much  reduced,  a  seat  in  the  pit  was  twenty  sous  or 
forty  cents,  and  the  boxes  cost  a  few  crowns.'  In  1657  the 
gentlemen  of  fashion  paid  four  or  five  livres,  or  twice  as 
many  francs,  for  the  chairs  on  the  stage  which  they  occu- 
pied. Loret  says  he  paid  thirty  sous  to  see  "  Les  Pr6- 
cieuses  "  at  the  Petit  Bourbon,  and  had  ten  pistoles'  worth 
of  laughter.' 

An  institution  of  considerable  importance  in  the  history 
of  French  literature  owes  its  origin  to  Richelieu.  In  1635 
letters-patent  were  granted  for  the  establishment  of  the 
French  Academy.  It  was  organized  under  the  protection  of 
the  cardinal,  and  was  to  consist  of  forty  members,  who  were 
to  devote  their  energies  to  the  perfection  of  the  French 
language.'  This  body  had  already  been  in  existence  since 
1629,  consisting  of  a  number  of  literary  men  who  met  in- 
formally at  the  house  of  Valentin  Conrart,  and  discussed 
questions  of  literature.  It  was  not  until  1637,  and  after 
repeated  orders  from  the  king,  that  the  Parliament  regis- 
tered the  edict  for  its  organization.  This  opposition  was 
probably  due  to  the  fact  that  some  trifling  legal  immuni- 
ties were  granted  the  members,  and  they  were  given  the 
right  to  have  all  actions  to  which  they  were  parties 
brought  before  the  masters  of  requests  for  trial.  The 
body  thus  created  has  had  a  long  career,  and  the  honor 
of  admission  to  it  would  be  prized,  even  by  those  who 
criticise  the  value  of  the  institution.     There  are  not,  how- 

'  Journal  de  Dubuisson  Auberiay,  Feb.  13,  1648. 

'  Muze  Historique,  x.,  192. 

*  Anc.  Lois  fran9aises,  xvi.,  418-420.     Let.  de  Richelieu,  v.,  957. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  437 

ever,  many  illustrious  names  on  the  list  of  the  Immortals 
during  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  the  Academy.  Des- 
cartes, Pascal,  Moli^re,  Rochefoucauld,  and  Retz  were  not 
among  its  members. 

An  edict  of  161 7  directed  two  copies  of  every  French 
book  published  to  be  deposited  in  the  royal  library.' 
This  had  received  some  attention  from  prior  kings,  but 
its  growth  had  been  slow.  The  ordinance  was  continued 
in  force,  and  during  the  seventeenth  century  the  biblio- 
thique  royale  began  to  increase  with  some  rapidity,  and  it 
has  at  last  become  the  greatest  library  of  the  world.  The 
library  of  a  few  thousand  books  in  161 7  now  contains 
over  two  million  printed  volumes,  and  has  the  richest  col- 
lection of  manuscripts  that  is  in  existence. 

Frequent  copyrights  secured  to  authors  the  right  to  the 
sale  of  their  books,  but  the  reading  public  was  not  nu- 
merous enough  to  make  literature  largely  remunerative. 
Those  works  which  could  be  represented  on  the  stage 
had  the  best  opportunity  for  gaining  a  fair  return.  A 
strict  censorship  of  the  press  existed,  but  it  was  often  dis- 
regarded.* The  severest  laws  did  not  prevent  the  publi- 
cation of  countless  pamphlets  and  bulletins  containing 
the  most  violent,  and  often  the  most  vulgar,  abuse  of  the 
government  and  of  all  its  members.  Richelieu,  and  still 
more  the  regent  and  Mazarin,  were  abused  with  more  venom 
than  either  public  or  private  men  are  now  subjected  to  in 
the  sheets  of  the  most  scurrilous  newspapers.  The  man 
-who  might  be  beheaded  for  his  pamphlet  naturally  put 
enough  sting  in  it  to  make  it  worth  while  to  run  the 
risk.  Ten  thousand  pamphlets  abusing  the  government, 
and  full  of  atrocious  calumnies,  were  issued  during  six 
months  of  1649.* 

The  fertility  of  this  period  in  satires  and  broadsides 
was  accompanied  by  the  beginning  of  an  institution  far 
more  important  than  the  French  Academy.  The  Mer- 
cure  Franqois,  which  first  appeared  in  161 1,  though  a  valu- 

'  Anc.  Lois  fran9aises,  xvi.,  106.  *  lb.,  238. 

*  Journal  de  la  Bibliothique,  June,  1649. 


438       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

able  source  of  information  for  history,  cannot  be  regarded 
as  a  newspaper.  It  was  a  well-arranged  current  history  of 
the  times,  appearing  ordinarily  in  yearly  volumes,  from 
one  to  three  years  after  the  events  it  described.  Such  a 
chronicle  was  deemed  too  tardy,  and  in  1631  the  Gazette 
appeared  under  the  charge  of  Theophraste  Renaudot,  and 
may  justly  claim  to  be  the  first  of  French  newspapers. 
The  numbers  appeared  weekly,  and  consisted  nominally 
of  four  pages  smaller  in  size  than  those  of  a  quarto  vol- 
ume. But  extras  were  published  on  any  important  occa- 
sion, and  often  contained  much  more  matter  than  the 
regular  issue.  The  papers,  bound  together  for  a  year, 
form  a  good-sized  volume  of  several  hundred  pages.  The 
Gazette  contained  a  good  deal  of  news  from  all  parts  of 
Europe,  and  full  reports  of  battles,  treaties,  and  court  fes- 
tivities. There  were  no  advertisements  and  no  editorials. 
In  the  description  of  events  some  comment  upon  them 
was  occasionally  introduced,  but  the  paper  was  strictly  an 
official  organ.  The  battles  in  which  the  French  were  suc- 
cessful were  promptly  and  fully  described  ;  their  defeats 
were  slightly  noticed,  and  often  after  considerable  delay. 
Internal  events  that  were  especially  disagreeable  to  the 
government  were  often  not  noticed  at  all.  One  could 
read  through  the  Gazette  and  hardly  discover  that  there 
were  any  troubles  of  the  Fronde.  Many  of  the  reports 
were  put  in  under  the  direct  order  of  the  government. 
Louis  XIII.  amused  himself  by  writing  for  it,  and  many 
of  the  pages  which  contain  brief  statements  of  the  news 
of  Paris  and  the  Court  were  printed  from  manuscript  which 
he  furnished.' 

Both  in  the  letters  of  Richelieu  and  Mazarin  are  refer- 
ences to  the  manner  in  which  the  news  should  be  stated  in 
the  Gazette,  in  order  to  produce  the  most  favorable  effect 
upon  the  public  mind.' 

It  was  not  an  independent  organ,  it  indulged  in  no  criti- 

'  A  great  number  of  them  are  now  at  the  Biblioth^que  Nationale,  in  the 
king's  handwriting,  with  many  erasures  and  corrections. 

'  Lettres  de  Richelieu,  v.,  669,  670.     Let.  de  Mazarin,  iii.,  215,  etc. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  439 

cism,  but  it  gave  the  most  of  the  news  with  reasonable 
promptitude  for  those  times.  It  long  continued  the  offi- 
cial paper  of  the  French  government.  Other  journals, 
however,  sprang  up  and  appeared  with  more  or  less  fre- 
quency, some  of  them  humorous  in  theory  if  not  in  fact, 
and  some  of  them  poetical.  The  most  interesting  of 
these  was  the  Muze  Historique,  which  was  begun  during 
the  Fronde,  and  was  for  many  years  composed  and  pub- 
lished by  Loret.  This  was  in  verse,  and  purported  to  be 
published  for  the  amusement  of  Mademoiselle  de  Longue- 
ville,  but  it  contained  a  fairly  accurate  account  of  the 
events  of  the  time.  Almost  the  entire  history  of  the 
Fronde  can  be  found  in  its  pages,  related  with  some  pro- 
lixity, but  in  a  manner  that  is  usually  rather  agreeable. 
A  newspaper  in  verse  could  hardly  be  expected  to  contain 
poetry  of  the  highest  order ;  but  Loret  rhymed  with  facil- 
ity and  his  muse  became  a  popular  one.  After  the  ex- 
citement of  the  Fronde  was  past,  descriptions  of  balls 
and  fetes,  and  of  the  appearance  of  many  of  the  notable 
guests,  are  often  found  in  its  pages.  As  soon  as  there  was 
a  public  press  which  could  describe  private  entertainments, 
those  who  gave  them  were  quite  willing  to  have  it  done, 
and  flattering  personal  notices  were  found  agreeable.  The 
editor  was  given  a  place  among  the  valets  or  the  musicians, 
where  he  could  see  the  ballet  and  describe  the  appearance 
of  the  more  beautiful  ladies.  The  pleasure  of  the  sight, 
and  an  opportunity  to  partake  of  the  viands  prepared  for 
the  festivity,  were  a  sufficient  reward  for  his  poetical  labors 
in  their  description.  When,  however,  persons  wished 
notices  of  thoir  entertainments,  without  seeing  fit  to  give 
the  journalist  even  this  modest  share  in  their  enjoyment, 
he  insisted  on  being  paid  for  them.' 

Not  only  the  modes  of  life,  but  even  the  language,  in 
many  of  the  provinces  differed  widely  from  that  of  Paris. 
In  many  parts  of  France  French  was  not  spoken.  The 
States-General  asked  that  curds  should  not  be  appointed 
for  these  districts,  who  could  not  speak  the  language  there 

'  Palais  Mazarin,  133.     Tallemant  des  Reaux. 


440      FRANCE  UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

used.  Even  in  many  provinces  where  French  was  spoken, 
there  were  few  who  talked  Parisian  French.  Mile,  de 
Scudery  undoubtedly  met  the  best  literary  society  of 
Marseilles,  but  she  declares  there  were  not  more  than  six 
or  seven  ladies  in  the  city  who  knew  how  to  talk  French.' 
When  a  well-written  address  was  published  by  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Bordeaux,  it  was  thought  it  must  have  been  com- 
posed in  Paris,  and  that  it  was  not  probable  there  was  any 
one  living  in  Guienne  who  possessed  sufficient  literary  skill. 

Richelieu  and  Mazarin  left  their  mark  upon  the  archi- 
tecture of  Paris  as  well  as  upon  the  government  of  France. 
The  selection  of  the  places  where  they  erected  their  palaces 
had  much  to  do  in  determining  the  direction  in  which  the 
city  of  Paris  should  grow.  Had  they  preferred  to  go  east, 
it  was  still  possible  that  the  future  palaces  and  hotels  of 
the  nobility  would  have  extended  in  the  direction  of 
Charenton  and  Vincennes.  They  chose,  however,  locali- 
ties where,  without  being  far  from  the  Louvre,  they 
could  find  room  for  extensive  gardens.  Fields  with  a  few 
scattered  houses  then  extended  near  the  Louvre,  in  districts 
now  traversed  by  the  Rue  de  Richelieu  and  the  Avenue  de 
rOpera.  The  present  Rue  des  Petits  Champs  is  one  of 
the  names  which  mark  the  former  condition  of  this  sec- 
tion. Richelieu  destroyed  the  Hotel  Rambouillet  and 
two  other  houses,  and  erected  the  great  Palais  Cardinal, 
fronting  on  the  Rue  Saint  Honor6.  The  city  walls  were 
at  the  same  time  removed,  and  placed  where  the  boule- 
vards are  at  present.'  In  the  rear  of  this  palace  exten- 
sive gardens  were  laid  out,  which  have  since  been  covered 
by  the  buildings  now  included  under  the  name  of  the 
Palais  Royal.' 

About  the  palace,  many  residences  of  nobles  and  politi- 
cal dignitaries  were  erected,  and  in  this  portion  of  the 

■  Lettre  de  Mile,  de  Scudery  k  Mile,  de  Paulet,  Dec.  13,  1644,  published 
by  Cousin. 

'  The  ordinance  for  this  change  is  found  in  Anc.  Lois  fran9aises,  xvi., 
383,  1633. 

*  The  extent  of  Paris  at  this  time,  and  the  position  of  the  houses  of  im- 
portance appear  on  the  map  of  Gomboust,  published  in  1652. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  44 1 

city  most  of  the  great  families  had  their  homes.  Great 
improvements  were  made  at  this  time  in  the  construction 
of  the  city  houses  or  hotels  of  the  wealthy.  These 
changes  not  only  rendered  them  more  handsome,  but 
were  especially  intended  to  render  them  more  comfort- 
able. Windows  were  made  larger,  chimneys  were  propor- 
tioned to  the  fire  that  was  needed,  staircases  became  more 
roomy  and  convenient,  the  enormous  size  of  some  rooms 
was  reduced  and  an  endeavor  made  to  construct  a  house 
in  which  one  could  live  with  convenience,  without  suffer- 
ing from  the  cold.'  Residences  were  becoming  less  feudal, 
and  more  modern,  in  their  arrangement  and  construction. 
Those  of  the  better  class  in  Paris  possessed  an  attraction 
which  is  now  rarely  found.  All  had  gardens,  and  an  abun- 
dance of  flowers  pleased  the  eye  and  made  the  air  fra- 
grant. 

Landscape  gardening  was  much  cultivated  during  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIV.  Though  the  best  known  gardens  of 
this  time  were  laid  out  later  than  1660,  before  that  the 
taste  began  to  develop  for  the  stiff  and  artificial  arrange- 
ment which  became  so  universal.  Beauty  was  added  to 
them  by  the  cultivation  of  flowers  and  rare  trees.  Orange 
groves  were  often  found,  and  flowers  were  used  profusely 
at  all  fashionable  entertainments.  The  country  houses 
of  the  nobility  were  also  built  more  with  reference  to  com- 
fort, and  had  less  of  the  traits  of  the  feudal  castle,  and  less 
of  the  bizarre  ornamentation  frequently  seen  in  the 
previous  century.  This,  however,  still  found  admirers, 
and  much  praise  was  given  to  the  great  clock  of  the 
chateau  of  Anet,  where  twenty  bronze  dogs  rushed  out 
and  barked  at  the  bronze  stag  when  the  hours  sounded. 

Mazarin  followed  Richelieu  in  the  resolve  to  build 
for  himself  a  great  palace,  and  in  this  respect  he  surpassed 
his  predecessor.     He  also  chose  a  location  in  the  outskirts 

'  A  marked  change  in  the  construction  of  French  houses  was  begun  by  the 
historical  Hotel  de  Rambouillet,  erected  in  the  early  part  of  the  century.  It 
is  fully  described  in  "Antiquites  de  Paris,"  by  Sauval,  who  had  often  been 
there,  as  well  as  by  many  other  writers,  who  were  there  entertained. 


442       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHEUEU  AND  MAZARIN, 

of  the  city  where  there  was  plenty  of  land,  and  the  Palais 
Mazarin  was  constructed  a  little  west  of  the  Palais  Royal, 
and  nearer  to  the  city  walls.  Changing  and  greatly  en- 
larging a  building  that  then  stood  there,  the  architect 
Mansart  erected  for  Mazarin,  fronting  on  the  present 
Rue  des  Petits  Champs,  the  palace  which  now  makes  a 
part  of  the  great  building  occupied  by  the  Biblioth^que 
Nationale.  This  was  ornamented  with  a  splendor,  which  was 
not  excelled  by  any  of  the  royal  mansions.  Painters  of 
celebrity  were  brought  from  Italy  to  decorate  the  walls, 
and  the  fresco  paintings  excelled  those  of  any  French 
palace.  In  the  rear  extensive  gardens  were  laid  out, 
between  the  Rue  Richelieu  and  the  Rue  Vivienne.  The 
cardinal  was  resolved  to  gather  here  treasures  of  all  sorts. 
Mazarin  had  the  tastes  of  an  Italian,  both  for  splendor  and 
for  art,  and  his  patronage  was  more  discriminating  than 
that  of  Richelieu.  His  picture  gallery  contained  five 
hundred  paintings,  among  which  were  Raphaels,  Titians, 
Correggios,  and  Van  Dykes.'  The  collection  of  statuary  was 
almost  as  fine."  There  were  brought  to  his  palace  from 
Italy  furniture  of  ebony  inlaid  with  ivory  and  rich  stones, 
carpets  from  the  Levant,  mirrors  and  laces  from  Venice,, 
porcelain  from  China.  The  magnificence  of  the  tapestry 
and  precious  stones  was  admired  by  all.  Along  the  Rue  de 
Richelieu  were  constructed  extensive  and  superb  stables, 
which,  with  some  changes,  form  a  part  of  the  building  that 
still  remains  there.  In  these  could  be  found  carriages  of 
every  style  from  Rome  and  Florence,  and  horses  and 
dogs  from  England  and  Spain.* 

The  work  which,  perhaps,  most  deserves  commendation 
was  the  collection  of  a  great  library.     Forty  thousand 

'  Palais  Mazarin,  l6,     Sauval,  ii.,  175. 

'  Long  lists  of  these  treasures  of  art  are  published  in  one  of  the  Mazarin- 
ades.  This  said  the  statue  of  Charity  was  hidden  in  a  corner,  and  that  all 
the  virtue  that  could  be  found  in  the  palace  was  her  representation  on 
canvas. 

*  Palais  Mazarin,  18.  The  rooms  for  the  library  were  constructed  above 
the  stables,  and  the  wits  complained  that  Mazarin  had  put  the  Muses  on  a 
dung-hill.      Tallemant,  v.,  149. 


SOCIAL   LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  44J 

volumes  were  gathered  together,  many  of  which  were  very 
rare  and  valuable.'  This  would  not  now  be  regarded  as 
a  large  library,  but  it  was  then.  The  Bibliotheque  Royale 
then  contained  but  ten  thousand  volumes,  and  it  was  not 
easy  to  obtain  access  to  it.  Great  public  libraries  at  this 
time  were  almost  unknown.  Mazarin  had  his  placed  in 
some  of  the  halls  of  his  palace,  and  it  was  kept  open  from 
eight  till  five.  Every  convenience  was  furnished  for  read- 
ing and  writing.  An  inscription  over  the  door  which  led 
to  it,  told  all  those  to  enter  who  wished  to  read.  This 
great  library  was  sold  by  parcels  during  the  P'ronde,  but 
Mazarin  collected  another  of  about  the  same  size.  After 
his  death,  his  palace  was  at  last  taken  for  the  king's  library, 
which  is  now  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale.  The  books 
collected  by  Mazarin  became  the  foundation  of  the  Bib- 
liotheque Mazarine,  which  is  now  in  the  buildings  of  the 
Institute.'  Though  very  much  smaller  than  the  national 
library,  it  contains  250,000  volumes,  and,  in  conformity 
with  the  liberal  views  of  its  founder,  it  is  still  kept  open 
for  the  use  of  all  who  wish  to  read. 

Little  value  was  attached  to  the  land  which  was  still  at 
a  considerable  distance  from  the  new  portion  of  the  city. 
Noyers  was  granted  the  right  to  the  land  which  is  now  the 
Rue  Royale  for  three  livres  a  year,  and  the  Marquis  of 
Mortemart  received  land  that  now  constitutes  one  quarter 
of  the  Champs  Elys^es.* 

The  value  of  land  is  increased  by  the  growth  of  popu- 
lation, and  the  prices  at  this  time  were  naturally  very  low 
when  compared  with  the  amounts  that  have  since  been 
paid,  A  house  in  the  Place  Royale  sold  in  1630  for 
13,000  livres,  or  about  5,000  dollars,  while  one  near  the 
Porte  Saint  Jacques  was  sold  for  only  3,000  livres.*  Good 
shops  rented  for  only  a  few  hundred  livres.     Even  the 

'  Sauval  says  it  contained  45,000  volumes. 

'  Palais  Mazarin,  20-3.  Full  descriptions  of  the  palace  and  its  con- 
tents are  found  in  Sauval,  ii.,  173-177,  and  the  Mazarinades.  The  libnuy 
is  especially  described  in  "  Muscurat." 

•  D'Estang,  ii.,  406-407.     Plumatif,  2763. 

*  Mss.  Godefroy,  131.,  97,  167. 


444       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

shops  most  patronized  were,  however,  small  and  squaHd. 
From  1640  to  1660,  there  was  a  considerable  rise  in  the 
price  of  land,  and  especially  at  Paris.  The  property  of 
Beaumont  sur  Oise  sold  in  162 1  for  105,000  livres,  and 
brought  155,000  in  1654.'  This  is,  perhaps,  a  fair  illustra- 
tion ;  and  a  still  larger  increase  would  be  found  in  the 
price  of  land  in  many  parts  of  Paris.  Richelieu  paid  90,- 
000  livres  in  1624  for  the  Hotel  Rambouillet,  which  fur- 
nished the  site  for  the  new  palace  of  the  cardinal."  The 
same  property,  in  1660,  would  have  been  considerably 
higher,  but  even  then  a  residence  large  enough  and  ele- 
gant enough  to  be  occupied  by  a  family  of  rank,  and 
situated  in  a  fashionable  quarter,  could  be  bought  for 
150,000  livres,  or  300,000  francs.' 

Yet,  on  the  prices  paid  for  land,  it  yielded  but  a  mode- 
rate return.  Real  estate  producing  5,000  livres  a  year 
was  thought  very  cheap  at  100,000  livres.*  When  it  was 
free  from  taxation,  and  conferred  social  rank,  it  was  bought 
at  figures  that  yielded  a  still  smaller  return.  It  is  doubt- 
ful if  the  owners  of  "  noble-land,"  so-called,  received  over 
3  per  cent,  income  on  its  value.  But  the  price  for  money 
used  in  other  ways  was  high.  While  the  legal  rate  of  in- 
terest was  6|  per  cent.,  the  actual  rate  was  considerably 
more.  The  government,  if  it  could  obtain  honest  and 
favorable  dealing,  could  not  borrow  at  less  than  8  per  cent., 
and  that  would  also  be  the  rate  of  business  credits.  Money 
on  undoubted  security  was  sometimes  lent  at  5  per  cent., 
but  the  creditor  often  objected  to  so  moderate  a  return.* 
The  nobles,  in  1626,  asked  that  interest  might  be  fixed  by 
law  at  6|  per  cent.,  which  is  evidence  that  they  were  then 
obliged  to  pay  more  than  that  on  the  loans  they  obtained.* 

The  city  of  Paris  covered  little  more  than  one  quarter 
of  the  territory  which  is  now  occupied  by  buildings,  and 
its  appearance  was  in  every  way  very  different.     As  late  as 

'  lb.,  cxxxiii.,  243.  •  Palais  Mazarin,  4. 

*  This  was  the  price  of  the  house,  near  the  Palais  Mazarin,  sold  in  1660, 
and  afterwards  bought  by  Colbert  for  a  less  sum.     *  Voyage  4  Paris,  339. 

°  Journal  d'  Ormesson,  6.  Lettres  de  Richelieu,  v.,  185.  Anc.  Lois  fran- 
jaises,  xvi  ,  151,  406.  •  Assemblee  des  Notables,  150. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  445 

1627,  building  in  the  environs  had  been  forbidden,  but  the 
growth  of  the  city  continued,  both  within  and  without 
the  walls.*  Richelieu  embellished  Paris  in  many  ways 
and  it  was  said  in  1624,  that  never  before  in  its  history 
had  so  many  and  so  great  improvements  been  made  as  in 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIII."  The  Luxembourg  was  begun 
in  161 3  by  Mary  de  Medici,  and  is  one  of  the  beauti- 
ful buildings  for  which  France  is  indebted  to  that 
family.  The  States-General  of  16 14  were  asked  to 
allow  the  queen  the  sale  of  some  offices,  that  she 
might  use  the  proceeds  in  the  construction  of  this 
palace.  It  was  finished  in  1620,  and  over  thirty  years  later 
it  was  declared  to  be  beyond  question  the  most  beauti- 
ful building  in  Paris.'  There  had  been  erected  in  the 
meantime,  not  only  the  palaces  of  the  two  cardinals,  but  a 
large  number  of  handsome  and  expensive  residences  for 
many  great  nobles.  As  their  life  came  to  be  spent  more 
at  Paris,  they  there  erected  their  most  costly  and  sumptu- 
ous dwellings.  The  most  of  those  built  at  this  time  have 
been  destroyed  in  the  subsequent  growth  of  the  city. 

In  1624  the  construction  was  continued  of  the  west  part 
of  the  Louvre,  and  this  work  was  carried  on  under  Louis 
XIV.  until  the  present  east  front  was  completed  in  1665, 
but  the  most  of  the  ground  now  covered  by  this  great 
building  was  then  occupied  by  streets  and  the  residences 
of  noblemen.  A  little  beyond  the  Tuileries,  where  now  is 
the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  were  the  grounds  of  Renard 
extending  along  the  Seine.  He  was  the  most  celebrated 
caterer  of  the  time,  and  his  gardens  were  the  favorite 
resort  of  the  aristocracy.  There  were  two  long  terraces 
from  which  one  could  watch  the  Cours  la  Reine  and  the 
open  country  beyond.  Out-door  parties  were  often  given 
there,  for  which  he  provided  the  entertainment,  and  many 
of  the  political  intrigues  and  quarrels  of  the  day  had 
Renard's  for  their  scene  of  action.     Beyond,  by  the  banks 

'  Anc.  Lois  fran9aises,  xvi.,  214.  •  Mercure  Fran9ois,  772. 

*  Fontenay  Mareuil,  71.  Etats-Generaux,  xvii.,43.  Proems  Verbal  du 
Tiers.     Voyage  k  Paris,  67. 


446       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

of  the  Seine,  was  the  Cours  la  Reine,  which  was  the 
favorite  drive.  The  Bois  de  Boulogne  was  little  visited, 
and  was  chiefly  known  as  the  scene  of  robberies  and  duels. 
The  Cours  la  Reine  was  laid  out  in  1616.  Carriages  had 
been  but  little  used  before  that  time,  and  there  was  no 
fashionable  drive  in  Paris.  People  walked  in  the  gardens 
for  their  recreation,  but  Mary  de  Medici  introduced  the 
usage  which  already  prevailed  in  Florence,  and  turned  the 
wheat  fields  which  extended  along  the  river  into  a  drive, 
adorned  by  rows  of  trees.  The  most  of  the  aristocracy 
followed  closely  on  the  king,  and  there  were  not  enough 
carriages  at  Paris  to  make  this  a  very  animated  scene  when 
the  Court  was  not  present.  One  could  visit  there  in  the 
king's  absence  and  find  but  few  driving.  As  soon  as  he 
appeared  the  scene  became  exceedingly  animated,  and 
over  two  thousand  carriages  were  often  counted.*  The 
ladies  drove  in  open  coaches,  and  many  of  the  gentlemen 
were  on  horseback,  and  the  drive  furnished  an  opportunity 
for  visiting  and  conversation. 

Many  of  these  carriages  were  drawn  by  six  horses 
and  were  very  elegant.  They  were  often  gilded  or 
elaborately  painted,  luxuriously  furnished,  and  they 
were  attended  by  numerous  lackeys.  Glass,  however, 
was  not  as  yet  used  in  them,  and  was  still  a  costly  and 
difficult  article  to  obtain.  The  glass  was  sometimes 
taken  out  of  the  windows  even  of  royal  palaces,  when 
they  were  left  for  the  season,  and  a  mirror  two  feet  in  size 
was  regarded  as  very  large.  Public  carriages  began  to 
come  into  use  at  this  time.  Cabs  or  carriages  to  let  were 
used  in  1650,  and  ordinary  cabs  in  the  streets  in  1657. 
Many  persons  were  carried  in  sedan  chairs  by  porters,  but 
the  expense  of  this  was  considerable.  To  go  about  the 
city  in  a  sedan  chair  or  a  carriage  was  stated  to  have  cost 
at  least  twenty-two  francs  a  day.'  In  1662  the  monopoly 
of  cabs  or  omnibuses  to  run  in  the  streets  at  regular  hours 
was  granted  the  Duke  of  Roannez  and  two  other  gentlemen. 
These  were  to  have  fixed  courses,  and  could  receive  five 

'  Voyage  k  Paris  en  1657,  104,  105.     *Anc.  Lois  fran9aises,  xviii.,  16. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  447 

SOUS  from  each  person.'  When  they  were  introduced  into 
use  they  were  followed  by  the  hooting  of  the  crowd,  and 
occasionally  by  a  volley  of  stones,  but  they  gradually  ac- 
quired some  degree  of  favor."  The  tariff  for  these  cabs  or 
omnibuses  was  soon  raised  to  ten  sous  or  twenty  cents  for 
a  course,  and  in  1784  had  reached  thirty  sous  for  cabs.  At 
that  price  it  still  remains  a  century  later.  The  distances 
were  shorter  then,  but  the  roads  were  much  worse,  and 
the  relative  price  for  cabs  is  much  cheaper  than  it  was  two 
centuries  ago. 

The  streets  of  the  city  were  usually  in  a  very  miserable 
condition.  They  had  been  irregularly  laid  out  and  almost 
all  were  very  narrow.  Sidewalks  were  unknown,  many  of 
the  streets  were  not  paved,  and  the  roadways  were 
generally  very  bad.  The  expense  of  constructing  them 
and  of  keeping  the  streets  clean  was  divided  in  various 
proportions  between  the  state  and  the  city  of  Paris,*  but 
it  was  attended  to  by  neither.  The  roadways  that  were 
built  were  of  poor  material,  most  of  the  city  was  low,  the 
drainage  was  imperfect  and  floods  were  not  unfrequent.  An 
ordinance  of  1637  appropriated  120,000  livres  annually 
for  cleaning  the  streets,  to  be  collected  from  the  resi- 
dents. The  tax  was  irregularly  paid,  and  in  bad  weather 
the  streets  were  in  such  condition  that  people  could 
only  walk  with  high  boots.  Even  the  judges  in  their 
robes  were  obliged  to  wear  these  unseemly  articles.  Rich- 
elieu complained  that  the  main  avenues  were  in  such 
condition  that  the  cost  of  teaming  was  doubled.*  Notwith- 
standing the  endeavors  that  were  made,  there  were  few 
streets  in  Paris  that,  in  wet  weather,  could  be  traversed 
with  comfort  by  men  or  with  safety  by  carriages.  For  a 
carriage  to  tip  over  in  the  ruts  or  holes  was  a  common 
occurrence.  The  mud  and  dirt  became  offensive  in 
every  way.  Little  sunlight  reached  the  narrow  streets, 
and  the  filth  of  the  city  was  not  removed.  The  mud  stained 

'  Ih.  'Sauval,  i.,  192. 

•  Anc.  Lois  fran.  xvi.,  478.     Traitd  de  la  Police,  iv.,  218-235. 

*  Lettres,  vi.,  247. 


448       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

the  clothes  of  those  who  had  to  walk  through  it,  and  its 
stench  was  proverbial.  It  was  not  until  Colbert  that  both 
the  streets  of  the  city  and  the  roads  through  the  country 
were  put  and  kept  in  fair  condition  for  travel.  Mme.  de 
S^vign^  wrote  that  the  infernal  roads  had  now  become 
heavenly  highways ;  she  only  feared  they  were  too  broad 
and  easy  to  lead  to  paradise. 

The  streets  were  not  lighted.  In  a  few  places  an  oc- 
casional lamp  was  found,  but  these  were  lit  by  the  bour- 
geois only  to  be  extinguished  by  the  thieves.'  A  gentle- 
man was  always  accompanied  by  a  lackey,  who  carried  the 
light  in  front  of  him  and  explored  the  way.  The  bourgeois 
who  braved  the  danger  of  the  city  at  night  took  his  lantern 
and  his  arms.  Chains  still  closed  many  of  the  streets  in  the 
night-time,  and  the  city  appeared  as  if  in  a  condition  of 
semi-siege.  There  were  no  police,  and  there  were  innum- 
erable robbers.  Carriages  were  often  attacked  in  the 
streets  of  Paris,  and  the  occupants  and  their  lackeys  de- 
fended themselves  with  swords  and  fire-arms  against  their 
assailants.  The  robber  would  first  endeavor  to  snatch 
the  torch  from  the  lackey,  so  that  entire  darkness  should 
prevent  any  rescue." 

The  unwary  traveller  was  often  asked  by  some  one  who 
affected  the  appearance  of  a  stranger,  to  show  the  way  to 
a  tavern,  where  they  could  have  a  pipe  of  tobacco  together, 
and,  when  some  convenient  place  was  reached,  was  attacked 
and  overpowered.  The  bourgeois  complained  that  Paris 
was  full  of  robbers,  there  was  risk  in  the  transportation  of 
merchandise,  and  they  themselves  were  in  apprehension 
even  in  their  own  houses.,  They  kept  guard,  some  of  them 
declared,  as  if  they  were  in  a  hostile  country.  The  robbers 
were  divided  into  those  who  snatched  mantles  by  night,  and 
those  who  attacked  houses.  Most  of  the  former  had  been 
soldiers,  or  were  valets  discharged  by  their  masters,  and 
many  of  them  found  shelter  in  the  houses  of  great  nobles, 
who  desired  to  have  a  large  retinue  of  men-at-arms  in  case 
of  need.     The  worst  violence  was  in  the  winter,  and  the  re- 

'  Palais  Mazarin.  *  Scarron,  8  Epitre.     Palais  Mazarin,  228. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  449 

turn  of  the  Court  usually  brought  with  it  a  body  of  lawless 
retainers,  who  got  their  dinner  by  hanging  about  the 
establishment  of  some  unruly  nobleman,  and  got  money 
for  drink  by  knocking  some  bourgeois  over  the  head.  The 
number  of  men  who,  by  service  in  ill-disciplined  armies, 
were  rendered  unfit  to  return  to  any  peaceful  avocation, 
furnished  a  great  supply  of  thieves,  brigands,  and  black- 
legs.* Such  disorders  were  sometimes  diminished  for  a 
while,  but  during  the  civil  wars  there  was  less  restraint 
than  usual.  In  1648  robbers  attacked  carriages  in  the 
streets  at  night  with  impunity." 

Somewhat  better  order  was  established  after  the  close 
of  the  Fronde.  Many  of  the  brawls  arose  from  the  quar- 
rels of  lackeys,  and  these  gentry  were  obliged  to  give  up 
wearing  swords.  Begging  in  the  streets  was  checked,  and  a 
vigorous  endeavor  was  made  to  clear  the  town  of  the 
numerous  gangs  of  robbers  and  cut-purses  that  infested  it.* 

Stones  on  which  to  dismount  were  placed  in  front  of 
many  doors,  and  formed  obstructions  in  the  streets,  which 
were  also  encumbered  by  the  little  shops  of  bootmakers 
and  fruit-dealers,  and  of  women  who  patched  clothes  and 
darned  stockings.  Paris,  under  Mazarin,  still  retained 
much  of  the  picturesque  but  inconvenient  squalor  of  a 
mediaeval  city.  These  shops  were  swept  away  in  1666, 
amid  many  laments  from  their  occupants.* 

The  bridges  were  centres  for  some  kinds  of  small  shops, 
and  they  were  lined  with  them  on  either  side.  On  the 
Pont  Neuf  there  were  fifty  book-stalls,  and  there  also  des- 
peradoes gathered  in  such  numbers  that  they  sometimes 
had  miniature  battles  with  the  guards.*  Such  situations 
were  not  free  from  danger.  Most  of  the  bridges  were  of 
wood,  and  in  the  inundations  of  the  Seine  they  were 
sometimes  carried  off.  In  1596  a  bridge  had  fallen  and 
carried   down    all  the  houses  and   shops  built    upon    it, 

'  A  full  account  of  these  evils,  and  of  the  consultations  of  the  authorities 
upon  them,  in  1634,  is  found  in  Talon,  30-34. 

*  Journal  d'  Ormesson,  i.,  405.  •  Voyage  i  Paris,  214. 

*  Journal  d'  Ormesson,  ii.,  476. 

*  Lettres  de  Patin,  i.,  124.     Aff.  £tr.  France,  892.,  347. 


45©       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

with  considerable  loss  of  life.  In  1637  another  bridge 
was  carried  away,  and  in  the  inundation  of  1658  the 
Pont  Marie  fell,  taking  down  a  great  number  of  houses, 
and  drowning  sixty  persons.  The  bridge  was  rebuilt, 
but  permission  was  refused  to  build  again  at  its  sides, 
to  the  great  regret  of  former  proprietors.  In  162 1 
two  bridges  were  burned,  and  seven  years  later  a  third." 
All  these  calamities  caused  great  devastation  to  the 
unfortunate  persons  who  had  their  houses  or  shops  on 
them,  but  as  they  furnished  cheap  and  convenient  places, 
it  was  long  before  such  buildings  were  entirely  done  away 
with. 

The  island  had  ceased  to  be  the  most  important  por- 
tion of  Paris,  and  the  Seine  divided  the  territory  occupied 
by  the  enlarged  city.  The  right  bank  was  known  as  the 
side  of  the  Louvre,  and  the  left  as  the  side  of  the  univer- 
sity. In  the  latter  as  many  as  sixty  colleges  were 
counted,'  but  by  the  seventeenth  century  the  University 
of  Paris  had  lost  many  of  its  privileges  and  much  of  the 
importance  which  it  had  once  possessed.  The  students 
were  forbidden  to  carry  swords  or  pistols,  and  the  gates  of 
the  colleges  were  ordered  to  be  closed  at  five  in  the  after- 
noon during  the  winter,  and  by  nine  during  the  summer. 
Students  who  were  found  wandering  about  the  streets  at 
later  hours  than  this  were  to  be  imprisoned  at  once.* 
Few  of  the  innumerable  ordinances  by  which  a  paternal 
government  regulated  the  detail  of  the  customs  and  man- 
ners of  its  people  were  enforced,  and  these  directions  were 
probably  disregarded,  but  the  students  do  not  figure  in 
the  accounts  of  violence  and  lawlessness  at  this  period. 

When  persons  were  often  attacked  in  the  streets  of 
Paris,  the  danger  of  a  journey  through  the  country  was 
naturally  very  considerable.  The  traveller  took  his  weap- 
ons and  attendants,  or  went  in  parties,  and  felt  justly 
grateful  when  the  perils  and  discomforts  of  the  journey 
were  ended.     A  Venetian  ambassador  doubtless  travelled 

'  Mercure  Fran9ois,  vii.,  857.  '  Voyage  4  Paris,  39. 

*  Anc.  Lois  fran9aises,  xvi.,  426,  Mch.,  1635. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  45 1 

with  as  much  comfort  and  safety  as  was  possible,  but  he 
regarded  the  voyage  from  Venice  to  Paris  as  a  serious  and 
perilous  undertaking,  and  in  his  despatches  relates  the 
great  difficulties  of  the  journey,  together  with  his  pleasure 
at  having  escaped  them  without  serious  injury.'  When 
Mme.  de  Longueville  went  to  Miinster  in  1647  her  attend- 
ants travelled  in  anticipation  of  an  attack,  for  though 
she  had  a  large  body  of  retainers,  the  bands  of  robbers  were 
often  numerous  enough  to  assault  a  considerable  party.' 

There  were  many  others  who  were  not  so  fortunate  as 
to  escape  attack.  Pontis  describes  being  waylaid  by 
seven  armed  robbers,  and  his  party  exchanged  shots  with 
them  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  Being  themselves  soldiers 
and  well  armed  they  at  last  repulsed  the  enemy.' 

M0I6  writes  complaining  of  the  bands  of  robbers  calling 
themselves  bohemians,  who  rode  over  France  with  impun- 
ity. The  authorities  said  that  most  of  the  highwaymen 
in  the  country  had  served  as  soldiers,  and  they  were  so 
well  armed  and  mounted  that  it  was  very  difficult  to  cap- 
ture them  by  force.* 

There  were  annoyances  as  well  as  dangers  in  travel. 
The  inns  about  the  country  were  usually  poor  and  ill 
supplied,  and  fastidious  travellers  took  their  beds  along 
with  them.* 

Much  time  was  required  for  a  journey.  Three  days 
were  occupied  in  going  from  Paris  to  Rouen,  and  ten 
days  to  Lyons.  Travellers  using  expedition  and  well 
provided  with  horses  came  from  Calais  to  Paris  in  six 
days.  The  king  took  seven  days  in  going  from  Metz  to  Ver- 
sailles, but  a  special  courier  came  from  Rocroi  in  less  than 
two  days.'  It  took  about  twenty-one  days  to  receive  ad- 
vices from  Naples,  and  over  two  weeks  for  them  to  come 

'  Dis.  Ven.,  cviii.,  i,  May,  1648.  The  same  complaints  were  made  by  his 
predecessor,  Nani.  t.  ci.,  June,  1644.  "  Voyage  i  MUnster.     Joly. 

•  Pontis.  462,  463.  *  Mem.  de  Mole,  i.,  398,  84.    Talon,  33. 

•  Lettres  de  Mme.  de  Sevigne  ii.,  56.  A  century  later  Arthur  Young 
complained  of  the  beds  in  the  taverns  outside  of  Paris. 

•  Journal  d'un  Voyage  i  Paris,  18-28. 


452       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

from  Rome.     A  letter  from  London  came  ordinarily  in 
seven  days.' 

Coaches  for  the  use  of  the  public  went  in  some  direc- 
tions. They  were  usually  monopolies,  and  the  exclusive 
right  to  run  them  over  a  certain  route  was  granted.  Re- 
lays of  horses  were  also  established  in  various  towns  and 
cities, for  the  convenience  of  travellers."  The  government 
began  to  take  upon  itself  the  care  of  the  transporta- 
tion of  letters.  Since  Louis  XL  special  messengers  on 
horseback  had  carried  the  despatches  of  the  government 
regularly  to  different  parts  of  France,  and  to  foreign  coun- 
tries. The  University  of  Paris  enjoyed  the  privilege  of 
sending  messengers  who  could  carry  letters,  money,  and 
packages,  or  conduct  passengers  to  various  parts  of  the 
kingdom.*  An  ordinance  of  1630  directed  the  royal  mes- 
sengers to  take  charge  of  the  letters  of  individuals.  This 
change  was  perhaps  made  in  order  to  create  the  new  of- 
fices, whose  holders  were  to  perform  this  duty  and  to 
receive  the  profits  of  the  carriage.  It  was,  however,  a 
step  towards  the  control  of  the  posts  by  the  government, 
and  in  1662  the  offices  were  abolished,  and  the  state  it- 
self took  charge  of  mails  for  individuals.  Two  couriers 
left  Paris  every  week.  The  price  fixed  by  law  for  sending 
a  letter  from  Paris  to  Bordeaux  or  Lyons  was  three  sous, 
or  six  cents.  To  London  it  was  from  eight  to  twenty 
sous,  depending  upon  the  weight.  As  much  as  fifteen 
sous  was  paid  for  sending  a  poem  in  manuscript  from 
Paris  to  Amiens,  and  there  were  frequent  complaints  that 
more  than  the  legal  rates  were  charged  for  carrying  let- 
ters.* The  price  which  the  coaches  were  allowed  to  charge 
a  passenger  from  Paris  to  Rouen  was  about  four  livres,  or 
eight  francs ;  to  Metz,  twenty-four  francs ;  to  Lyons, 
thirty-eight  francs."    These  prices  were  high,  but  there  was 

'  Brienne,  89. 

'Ord.,  1596.     Anc.  Lois,  xv.,  131. 

*  Anc.  Lois,  xvii.,  48.  These  privileges  are  there  recited.  They  had 
long  been  enjoyed  by  the  universities. 

*  Riglement,  Nov.  9,  1634.     22  May,  1636.     Tallemant,  ii.,  196. 

*  Arret  de  Parlement,  26  July,  1623. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND    CUSTOMS.  453 

little  travel.  Persons  could  go  by  horseback  at  consid- 
erably less  expense  than  by  these  coaches.' 

Another  important  institution  had  its  origin  at  this 
time.  In  1626  an  edict  created  the  Jardin  des  Plantes 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  herbs  and  medicinal  plants 
for  the  benefit  of  all,  and  for  the  instruction  of  students 
at  the  University  of  Medicine.'  This  was  placed  under 
the  care  of  H^ruard,  the  first  physician  of  the  king,  and 
after  him  many  distinguished  men  held  the  position  of 
superintendent.  A  century  later  Buffon  held  the  office, 
and  by  his  literary  celebrity  and  the  publication  of  his 
work  on  natural  history,  he  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the 
enlargement  of  the  collections  of  animals.  Like  many 
other  of  the  institutions  which  owed  their  origin  to  the 
judicious  favor  of  Richelieu,  this  garden  still  continues  to 
be  of  value  and  of  interest  to  the  public. 

An  ordinance  of  1638  renewed  the  project  of  Sully  for 
the  construction  of  the  canal  of  Briare  to  connect  the 
Loire  and  the  Seine.  What  had  already  been  done  was 
turned  over  to  two  men,  who  agreed  to  finish  the  canal  in 
four  years.  They  were  to  be  made  nobles  for  their 
services,  and  to  have  besides  the  perpetual  right  to  the 
tolls  to  be  charged  on  the  boats.* 

While  such  improvements  were  made  in  many  direc- 
tions, barbarous  usages  still  prevailed.  The  shipwrecked 
were  still  received  with  cold  hospitality,  and  the  cargo  of 
a  vessel  lost  on  the  shores  of  France  was  often  seized  by 
the  inhabitants,  or  by  the  governor  of  the  province.  The 
legal  right  to  the  property  found  in  the  wrecks  belonged 
to  the  king,  and  Richelieu  made  some  endeavors  to  check 
this  sort  of  pillage  and  to  preserve  the  rights  of  the 
owners.* 

Torture  was  still  used  to  obtain  confession.  This  bar- 
barous procedure  was  sometimes  applied  with  great 
severity,  though  often  the  sight  of  the  instruments  in- 
duced  the    accused   to    confess    whatever   was    desired.* 

>  Voyage  k  Paris,  18-28.  •  Anc.  Lois  fran9aises,  xvi.,  161-4. 

*  lb.,  488-497.  *Lettres  de  Richelieu,  ii.,  356,  361.  et passim. 

*Ormesson,  i.,  151. 


454       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

The  widow  and  two  sons  of  a  bookseller  were  found 
having  in  their  possession  some  of  the  pamphlets  against 
the  government,  circulated  in  the  Fronde.  The  sons 
were  tortured  in  order  to  discover  who  had  written 
the  burlesques,  and  afterwards  strangled.  As  their  mother 
was  very  old,  and  could  neither  read  nor  write,  she  was 
only  fastened  behind  the  cart  and  compelled  to  watch  the 
punishment  of  her  children.' 

Criminals  were  sometimes  broken  at  the  wheel,  and 
sometimes  burned  alive.  It  was  often  provided,  however, 
in  the  sentence,  that  those  condemned  to  be  burned  should 
first  be  strangled.  Imprisonment  for  debt  existed,  but  an 
edict  of  1629  directed  that  women,  and  men  over  seventy, 
should  not  be  confined  for  this  cause."  There  were  many 
abuses  in  the  prisons,  from  the  cruelty  of  jailers  and  from 
the  filthy  condition  in  which  they  were  kept.'  Contagious 
diseases  were  so  prevalent  at  the  Chatelet  in  1638,  that 
persons  confined  for  debt  were  released,  and  those  held 
for  crime  were  transferred  to  other  prisons.* 

Though  the  right  to  coin  money  was  no  longer  pos- 
sessed by  any  nobles,  some  of  them  found  compensation 
in  issuing  counterfeit  money.  The  Count  of  Angouleme 
confessed  that  he  received  twelve  thousand  livres  a  year 
for  renting  one  chamber  in  his  castle  to  Merlin,  a  well- 
known  counterfeiter.*  Richelieu  complained  that  the 
abuse  of  coining  counterfeit  money  was  practised  or  pro- 
tected among  persons  of  quality  to  such  an  extent,  that  it 
added  to  the  financial  confusion  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  as 
late  as  1664  some  nobles  were  complained  of  as  being 
notorious  counterfeiters." 

Sunday  was  not  observed  with  the  strictness  of  Protes- 
tant countries,  and  Richelieu  lamented  that  while  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  refused  to  attend  to  negotiations  for  a 
treaty  on  that  day,  the  French  were  always  willing  to  de- 
vote it  to  secular  matters  and  thus  expel  the  holy  thoughts 

^  lb.,  747.  *Anc.  Lois  fran^aises,  xvi.,  269. 

•Rapport  sur  Touraine,  77.        *Mole,  ii.,  413.       *Talleniant,  i.,  220. 
•  Mem.  de  Richelieu,  xxii..  334.     Rapport  sur  Touraine. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  455 

which  should  occupy  them.'  The  close  connection  of  the 
church  and  state  allowed  the  latter  to  regulate  the  fees  of 
the  clergy.  The  ordinance  of  1644  allowed  ten  sous  for  say- 
ing high  mass  for  the  dead,  and  eight  sous  for  low  mass. 
Each  of  the  priests  attending  the  funeral  was  allowed  five 
sous,  and  the  cur6  twenty  sous.  The  price  for  asking  the 
prayers  of  the  congregation  for  one  who  had  left  nothing 
to  the  cur6  was  thirty  sous.  Thirty  sous  was  allowed  for 
publishing  the  banns,  and  the  same  sum,  or  sixty  cents  in 
our  money,  for  celebrating  a  wedding.* 

Marriage  was  legalized  solely  by  the  religious  ceremony, 
and  abuses  and  fraudulent  marriages  were  not  uncommon. 
The  ordinance  required  the  consent  of  parents  for  men 
until  thirty,  and  for  women  until  twenty-five,  declared 
promises  of  marriage  void  unless  they  were  in  writing,  and  re- 
quired the  publication  of  banns,  and  public  marriages  in  the 
church.*  Marriages  were  largely  arranged  by  the  parents 
upon  family  and  money  considerations,  and  elopements  or 
abductions  by  violence  were  more  frequent  than  they  are 
now.  The  form  of  a  marriage  ceremony  with  girls  of  high 
rank  was  sometimes  performed  when  they  were  only  twelve, 
and  at  that  age,  if  accompanied  by  the  consent  of  the  pa- 
rents, it  was  a  valid  alliance.  A  system,  where  the  desires 
of  the  parties  themselves  were  often  so  little  consulted, 
may  have  been  one  of  the  causes  for  the  exceedingly  free 
life  of  most  of  the  heroines  of  the  Fronde,  and  for  the 
large  number  of  illegitimate  children  who  appeared  in 
many  noble  families.  The  business-like  nature  of  mar- 
riage contracts  was  recognized,  and  it  excited  no  com- 
ment. Ormcsson  speaks  of  the  superintendent  Bailleul's 
being  occupied  in  arranging  a  marriage  for  his  son  with 
a  gentleman's  daughter  then  nine  years  old,  upon  the 
condition  that  she  should  have  six  hundred  thousand 
livres  in  money  and  two  hundred  thousand  in  other 
articles,  and  with  a  forfeiture  of  two  hundred  thousand  to 
the  superintendent  if  the  marriage  was  not  solemnized.* 

'  Mem  de  Richelieu,  xxii.,  302.       *  Anc.  Lois  franfaises,  xvii.,  28,  39. 
*  lb.,  xvi.,  520-524.  *  Journal  d'Onnesson,  197. 


456       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Such  alliances  resulted  not  only  in  many  separations, 
but  in  many  divorces.  Divorces  in  form  could  not  be  ob- 
tained, because  the  church  did  not  allow  them,  but  the 
same  result  was  reached  on  very  slight  grounds,  by  a  dec- 
laration that  the  marriage  was  itself  invalid  and  void. 
Relationship  within  the  remote  bounds  prohibited  by  the 
canon  law  was  used  as  a  pretext,  and  so  also  was  the  fact 
that  the  marriage  had  been  obtained  by  violence  and 
without  consent.  When  both  parties  were  wearied  of  it 
this  was  often  easily  proved,  and  frequently  without  the 
necessity  for  much  perjury.  Even  being  without  children 
was  sometimes  urged  as  a  ground  upon  which  the  nullity 
of  the  marriage  could  be  adjudicated.*  By  a  practice,  that 
has  since  been  abandoned,  ladies,  though  assuming  their 
husband's  name  in  society,  continued  to  sign  their  maiden 
names. 

Many  superstitions  were  still  entertained  which  have 
long  since  been  abandoned.  The  royal  touch  was  believed 
to  be  eflficacious  in  driving  away  the  king's  evil.  Exper- 
iments were  made  in  alchemy  before  Louis  XIII.  and  his 
ministers  by  some  charlatan,  who,  it  was  claimed,  could 
make  gold."  Richelieu  stated  in  his  memoirs  that  Luines 
had  dealings  with  two  renowned  magicians,  and  he  seems 
to  have  believed  that  herbs  were  put  in  the  king's  shoes  to 
obtain  an  influence  over  him.  Those  who  are  filled  with 
ambition  often  commit  such  impieties,  the  cardinal  re- 
marks.' One  Saint  Isidore,  of  Spain,  had  performed  great 
miracles  in  fecundity,  and  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  send 
to  him  some  sacred  relics  that  he  might  exert  himself  on 
behalf  of  Anne  of  Austria.  Richelieu,  however,  had  some 
doubts  as  to  the  probable  success  of  the  efforts  of  the 
holy  man.*  The  queen  herself  was  very  superstitious,  and 
was  alarmed  by  any  incident  of  evil  omen. 

Retz  relates  being  one  evening  with  the  Marshal  of 
Turenne  and  some  ladies,  when  the  driver  declared  that 

'  Let.  de  Richelieu,  ii.,  175.     Tallemant,  vii.,  244.  *  Let.  v.,  625. 

•  Mem.  de  Richelieu,  ed  Michaud,  xxi.,  249. 

*  Lettres  de  Richelieu,  vii.,  767,  June  20,  1637. 


SOCIAL   LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  457 

he  saw  devils  just  in  front.  The  ladies  were  greatly  terri- 
fied. The  Bishop  of  Lisieux  was  with  the  party,  and  he 
told  them  not  to  be  terrified  because  they  were  in  the 
hand  of  the  Lord.  Turenne  and  Retz  summoned  up 
courage  enough  to  proceed  against  the  enemy,  and  they 
were  found  to  be  monks.  Brion,  a  gentleman  with  them, 
was  almost  overcome  by  terror,  and  even  Turenne  con- 
fessed that  he  believed  the  apparitions  might  well  be 
devils,  and  he  proceeded  against  them  as  a  soldier  who 
recognizes  the  peril.  Retz  claims  to  have  been  the  least 
terrified,  which,  as  he  was  free  from  any  religious  belief,  is 
very  possible.' 

Patin  speaks  of  the  common  belief  at  Paris,  that 
a  child  born  in  the  new  moon  would  probably  encounter 
great  perils  in  life.'  He  speaks  of  this  superstition  only 
to  ridicule  it,  but  Patin  was  a  man  of  unusual  ability  and 
learning,  and  belonged  to  a  profession  whose  studies  are 
apt  to  make  them  incredulous  as  to  the  beliefs  held  by 
many  others.  Many  persons  of  intelligence  and  promi- 
nence still  consulted  horoscopes.  The  Duke  of  Guise  had 
his  astrologer,  and  so  did  a  much  greater  man,  the  Duke 
of  Wallenstein.  Such  superstitions  were  by  no  means 
universal,  but  they  had  not  yet  become  ridiculous. 

The  credulity  of  the  age  manifested  itself  in  more 
gloomy  shapes  than  these.  In  1619  Vanini,  a  celebrated 
philosopher,  was  condemned  for  atheism  by  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Toulouse.  His  tongue  was  cut  out  for  having 
pronounced  impious  words,  and  he  was  then  burned  alive.* 
In  1639  a  man  was  executed  for  blasphemy,  and  the 
Parliament  was  earnest  in  its  demand  that  death  should 
continue  to  be  the  penalty  prescribed  by  law  for  this 
offence.*  But  the  numerous  prosecutions  for  magic 
attracted  much  more  attention.  Urbain  Grandier  was  a 
cur6  at  Loudun,  of  much  ability,  but  of  questionable 
morals,  and  he  had  been   director  of  a  convent  of  the 

'  Mem.  de  Retz,  i..  69-73.  *  Lettres  de  Patin,  i.,  160. 

•  Anciennes  Lois  fran9aises,  xvi.,  135.     Mercure  fran9ois,  v.,  63. 

*  Gazelle  for  1639,  p.  40. 


458      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Ursulines  there.  One  of  the  inmates  declared  that  a  form- 
er director,  and  also  Grandier,  appeared  to  her  in  visions, 
and  advised  her  to  immoral  courses.  The  whole  convent 
was  soon  disturbed  by  similar  visions  and  by  the  solicita- 
tions of  the  enemy.  The  monotonous  life  of  a  body  of 
ignorant  women,  shut  off  from  the  world,  made  it  easy  for 
such  delusions  to  spread  among  them.  They  were  be- 
lieved by  those  of  greater  intelligence.  The  superior  at 
Loudun  wrote  Bouthillier  that  rebellion  and  silence  were 
only  too  common  among  these  devils,  and  much  patience 
was  needed  to  discover  their  malice.  But  he  had  exorcised 
them,  and  they  had  confessed,  after  great  resistance,  that 
simply  from  malice  they  had  caused  some  disturbances  in 
Bouthillier's  mind,  but  their  charms  had  not  had  the  suc- 
cess they  desired.  Even  the  Sorbonne  admitted  that  there 
were  cases  of  real  possession  by  the  devil.  Grandier  was 
tried  for  having  introduced  the  evil  one  into  the  convent ; 
he  was  convicted  on  the  depositions  of  Astaroth,  Asmodeus, 
and  Zabulon,  was  tortured  and  burned  alive.'  His  friends 
complained  in  vain  that  too  much  credence  was  given  to 
the  testimony  of  the  emissaries  of  the  father  of  lies. 

Such  follies  excited  imitation.  A  half-crazy  nun, 
named  Madeleine  Bavent,  at  the  monastery  of  Louviers, 
accused  Picard,  a  deceased  director,  of  having  exorcised 
her.  There  is  little  doubt  that  he  was  an  immoral  man, 
and  he  had  possibly  obtained  an  influence  over  this  weak 
woman  by  pretending  to  practise  magical  rites.  The 
convent  was  soon  disturbed  by  many  of  the  nuns  who 
claimed  to  be  possessed  by  the  evil  one,  and  the  matter 
was  brought  before  the  courts.  The  mark  of  the  sorcerer 
was  recognized  on  various  of  the  inmates  of  this  and 
other  convents.  Contortions,  wrestlings  with  the  evil  one, 
and  possessions  by  the  fiend  now  became  frequent  in 
various  monasteries.  Madeleine  Bavent  was  condemned 
to   imprisonment   as   a  sorcerer.     A   solicitor   had   been 

'  Anciennes  Lois,  xvi.,  413.  Histoire  des  Diables  de  Loudun.  Mercure, 
XX.,  771,  et  seq.  for  1634.  Archives  Curieuses,  2  series,  t.,  v.,  183-283.  Let- 
tres  de  Richelieu,  v  ,  16. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AXD   CUSTOMS.  45^ 

appointed  to  represent  the  corpse  of  Picard,  and  this  was 
also  condemned.  It  had  been  dug  from  the  grave  over 
four  years  ago,  and  carried  from  place  to  place  during  its 
trial  before  the  Parliament  of  Normandy.  It  was  now 
dragged  on  a  hurdle  to  a  public  place  at  Rouen,  and 
burned  before  a  great  multitude.  But  at  the  same  time, 
on  August  21,  1647,  a  priest  named  Boull^,  who  had  been 
Picard's  vicar,  was  burned  alive.  He  had  been  tried  before 
the  Parliament  on  the  accusation  of  various  persons  who 
were  possessed  by  the  evil  one.  Bavent  testified  that  she 
had  seen  him  adore  the  demon  at  unholy  assemblies  she 
had  attended,  and  that  she  was  present  when  Leviathan  put 
his  mark  upon  him.  Two  physicians  declared  that  they 
discovered  the  mark  of  the  sorcerer  upon  the  unfortunate 
priest,  and  he  was  condemned  and  executed  for  magic, 
sacrilege,  and  other  impieties  committed  against  the  divine 
majesty.' 

This  gloomy  nonsense  found  little  credence  at  Paris. 
The  Parliament  decided  in  1660  that  it  had  no  jurisdiction 
over  charges  of  magic,  and  that  it  would  not  entertain 
accusations  for  such  an  offence.*  But  the  Parliament  of 
Normandy  continued  for  many  years  zealous  in  its 
work,  and  it  was  only  after  much  resistance  that  later  in 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  these  prosecutions  were  stopped 
by  the  government. 

When  such  superstitious  beliefs  could  find  any  credence,, 
it  was  natural  that  there  should  be  laws  against  the  Jews. 
Frequent  edicts  forbidding  their  residence  in  France  are 
found  among  the  ordinances  of  the  earlier  French  kings,  but 
they  had  long  been  tolerated,  and  a  considerable  number 
of  them  came  to  France  during  the  favor  of  the  Marshal 
of  Ancre.     Their  removal  was  asked  in  the  cahiers  of  the 

'  See  Histoire  de  Magdelaine  Bavent,  1652.  Registres  de  Tournelle  de 
Rouen,  1647.  Traile  des  marques  des  possedez,  et  les  Preuves  de  la  veri- 
table possession  des  religieuses  de  Louviers,  par  Pierre  Magnart  docteur  en 
medecine,  1644.  Recit  veritable  de  ce  qui  s'est  fait  aux  exorcismes  de 
plusieurs  religieuses  de  Louviers,  1643.  Histoire  du  Parlement  de  Nor- 
mandie,  v.,  634,  et  seq. 

•  Let.  de  Patin,  ii.,  46. 


460       FRANCE  UNDER   RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

clergy  at  the  States-General  of  16 14,  and  this  request  was 
promptly  granted.  An  edict  of  161 5  declared  that  the 
presence  of  Jews  in  the  kingdom  was  abhorrent  to  the 
piety  of  a  most  Christian  king,  and  ordered  them  to  leave 
within  one  month,  under  pain  of  death  and  the  confiscation 
of  their  goods.'  So  barbarous  a  law  could  not,  however, 
be  enforced.  Some  left  and  went  to  Holland,  some 
bought  toleration,  some  remained  and  were  unmolested. 
In  1657  they  are  spoken  of  as  being  at  Paris,  but  they  did 
not  occupy  a  position  of  commercial  importance.'  It  was 
not  until  the  Revolution  that  they  obtained  legal  pro- 
tection. 

Yet,  though  there  was  much  bigotry  and  superstition,  it 
was  said  that  sceptical  views  were  found  among  many.* 
Avowed  scepticism  was,  however,  rare,  and  while  many 
had  perhaps  ceased  to  have  an  actual  belief  in  Chris- 
tianity, they  had  not  ceased  to  profess  it.  Their  super- 
stitions in  like  manner  were  entertained  without  being 
believed.  Bussy  Rabutin  said  he  was  afraid  of  spirits, 
without  believing  in  them.  This  gallant  officer  was  not 
ashamed  to  confess  that,  sleeping  in  a  lonely  room,  he  hid 
his  head  under  the  bedclothes,  lest  he  should  hear  some 
sound  that  he  would  believe  proceeded  from  ghosts.* 

An  extended  review  of  French  literature  during  the 
administrations  of  Richelieu  and  Mazarin  would  occupy 
an  undue  space  in  a  general  history.  But  this  period  was 
one  which  contained  the  flower,  if  not  the  fruit,  of  the 
golden  age  of  the  literature  of  France.  The  age  of  Louis 
XIV.  is  illustrious  from  the  great  writers  who  flourished 
in  it  ;  but  in  this  as  in  other  things,  while  Louis'  influence 
was  not  without  its  effect,  he  has  been  fortunate  in 
receiving  the  glory  to  which  he  had  no  exclusive  claim. 

Literature  was  encouraged  by  Richelieu  and  patronized 
by  Louis  XIV.  It  fared  perhaps  even  better  at  the  hands 
of  Anne  of  Austria  and  Mazarin,  for  they  let  it  alone. 

'  Anc.  Lois  fran9aises,  xvi.,  76-8.     Mem.  de  Richelieu,  xxi.,  98. 

'  Voyage  k  Paris,  81.  *  Mem.  de  Mme.  de  Motteville,  204. 

*  Mem.  de  Bussy  Rabutin,  i.,  76. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  461 

But  the  stirring  and  important  events  of  the  fifty  years 
which  followed  the  death  of  Henry  IV.  were  better  for 
the  development  of  great  writers,  than  was  the  favor  of 
ministers  or  princes.  Richelieu  certainly  did  something 
for  the  literature  of  his  land  in  the  attention  he  gave  to 
men  of  letters.  If  his  taste  was  not  always  pure,  or  his 
patronage  always  judicious,  he  often  rendered  help  or 
encouragement  where  it  was  needed  and  deserved.  But 
he  gave  more  impulse  by  his  career  than  by  his  bounty. 
The  great  part  which  France  played  in  Europe,  the  cardi- 
nal's broad  plans  and  his  lofty  ambition,  the  vigor  and 
even  the  severity  of  his  rule,  were  the  education  for  a 
great  literature. 

Nor  were  the  years  that  followed  less  instructive  for  the 
observers  of  manners  and  men.  The  license  and  turbu- 
lence of  the  Fronde,  its  tragedy  and  comedy,  and  shifting 
phases,  the  unbridled  abuse  and  vituperation  which  pre- 
vailed, the  bourgeoisie,  loyal  to-day  and  rebellious  to- 
morrow, the  nobles,  Frondeurs  on  one  day  and  Mazarin- 
ites  on  the  next, — all  these  things  enabled  the  dramatist, 
the  comedian,  and  the  satirist  to  observe  the  strength  and 
the  weakness  of  human  nature.  The  society  of  this  period 
possessed  freshness  and  esprit.  The  bourgeois  watched 
the  conduct  of  his  rulers  and  was  not  afraid  to  discuss  it. 
The  members  of  the  Parliaments  were  not  only  lawyers, 
but  men  of  affairs.  The  nobles  were  often  turbulent  and 
independent,  with  a  boldness  of  wit  and  thought  that  was 
refined  and  polished  out  of  existence  in  those  who  spent 
their  lives  at  Versailles,  paying  well-turned  compliments 
to  Louis  XIV. 

Such  was  the  life  amid  which  most  of  the  great  French 
writers  of  the  seventeenth  century  received  their  training. 
Corneille's  best  tragedies  and  the  great  works  of  Descartes 
were  produced  under  Richelieu.  Moli^re  was  travelling 
through  the  provinces  of  France  during  twelve  years  of 
Mazarin's  administration,  seeing  the  types  of  human 
nature  which  he  was  to  immortalize.  The  works  of  Retz 
and  Rochefoucauld  belong  to  the  literature  of  the  Fronde^ 


462      FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

When  Mazarin  died  Moli^re  was  a  man  of  almost  forty, 
and  his  reputation  as  a  dramatist  was  established  ;  Pascal 
had  finished  his  writings,  Racine  was  past  twenty-one,  La 
Fontaine  was  well  known,  and  Boileau  was  beginning  to 
be  known  ;  Bossuet  had  been  preaching  at  Paris  for 
several  years.  Bossuet  belongs,  however,  more  to  the 
latter  part  of  the  century,  and  his  sonorous  eloquence 
bears  an  intellectual  resemblance  to  the  character  of  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIV. 

Some  influence  upon  French  literature  in  the  early  part 
of  the  century  should  be  attributed  to  the  Hotel  Ram- 
bouillet.  It  was  one  of  the  centres  of  fashionable  life, 
and  one  of  the  first  of  the  famous  French  salons,  open 
alike  to  the  aristocracy  of  birth  and  of  genius,  which  have 
encouraged  letters  and  added  brilliancy  to  society.  There 
princes  and  marshals  met  on  equal  terms  with  the  writers 
of  plays  and  the  inditers  of  sonnets.  At  the  Hotel 
Rambouillet  Corneille  read  his  tragedies,  Balzac  talked  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  Voiture  wrote  fluent  and  amusing 
verses,  and  made  love  with  a  freedom  which  sometimes 
verged  on  impertinence.  There  Mile,  de  Scudery  observed 
the  characters  which  she  afterwards  described  at  infinite 
length  in  the  Grand  Cyrus. 

But  while  at  the  Hotel  Rambouillet,  the  roughnesses 
which  still  appeared  in  social  life  were  softened,  nobles 
learned  something  about  letters,  and  writers  learned  some- 
thing about  manners,  its  beneficial  effect  on  literature 
has  been  somewhat  exaggerated.  Great  men  were  some- 
times found  there,  but  no  great  work  can  be  regarded  as 
the  product  of  the  salon  of  Mme.  de  Rambouillet.  Its 
influence,  and  that  of  the  other  salons  which  imitated  and 
perhaps  exaggerated  its  tone,  tended  rather,  after  a  time, 
to  an  undue  grammatical  nicety;  to  a  jargon  of  fine  words 
with  little  wit ;  to  an  affectation  of  feelings  and  passions 
sublimated  and  super-refined ;  to  make  men  write  stilted 
poetry,  and  ladies  talk  nonsense  about  the  love  of  the 
soul.  The  Scudery,  with  their  wearisome  romances,  and 
the  pr^cieuses,  ridiculed  by  Moliere  and  Boileau,  derived 


SOCIAL   LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  463 

much  of  their  intellectual  nutriment  from  the  Hotel  Ram- 
bouillet. 

The  subsequent  characteristics  of  French  literature,  its 
regularity  in  form,  its  clearness  of  style,  its  observance  of 
rule,  its  avoidance  of  excess — qualities  which,  though 
sometimes  exaggerated,  have  done  much  to  make  it  the 
most  cosmopolitan  of  literatures, — were  formed  during  the 
seventeenth  century.  In  the  beginning  of  it,  Malherbe  car- 
ried on  his  campaign  against  the  bad  taste,  the  pedantry, 
the  imitation  of  the  Italian,  which  he  found  among  the 
poets  formed  in  the  sixteenth  century.  His  criticisms 
were  as  vigorous  as  Dr.  Johnson's  conversation.  "  This  is 
without  judgment,"  he  writes  of  one  phrase;  "  that  piece 
is  so  weak  and  school-boy  like,  that  it  deserves  no  criti- 
cism ;  that  phrase  may  be  Latin,  but  it  is  not  French ; 
and  the  other  was  stolen  from  the  Italian,  where  it  was 
almost  as  bad  as  when  it  is  put  in  French." 

Malherbe,  Boileau  wrote,  first  compelled  the  muse  to 
the  rules  of  duty.  The  French  muse  has  sometimes  suf- 
fered, because  the  rules  have  become  fetters.  A  Pegasus, 
less  restrained,  not  harnessed  to  the  plough  which  kept  it 
in  the  furrow  of  rectitude,  might  perhaps  have  taken 
higher  flights.  But  Malherbe  did  much  by  precept,  and 
somewhat  by  example,  towards  improving  poetrj'  which 
had  neither  taste  nor  vigor. 

One  who  would  both  improve  and  adorn  literature  was 
thought  to  have  been  found  in  Balzac,  who,  by  his  letters, 
when  a  very  young  man,  burst  into  a  blaze  of  glory.  Sen- 
eca was  declared  monotonous  beside  him  ;  his  books  were 
almost  as  widely  known  as  fire  and  water  ;  they  were  the 
philter  which  made  the  French  tongue  dear  to  nations  who 
dwelt  on  the  shores  of  the  Arctic  seas.  The  fame  that  was 
so  great  grew  faint  even  in  Balzac's  lifetime,  and  it  has 
faded  away  in  two  centuries.  He  has  had  the  accidental 
misfortune,  that  one  of  the  great  authors  of  this  century  has 
borne  the  same  name,  and  even  this  has  to  many  readers 
still  further  obscured  the  writer,  whose  letters,  it  was  once 
said,  made  the  sick  forget  their  maladies.     It  has  been 


464      FRANCE  {JNDER  KTCHEUEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

discovered  that  among  his  magnificent  words  and  sonor- 
ous sentences  there  was  very  little  thought  to  be  found. 
Yet  Balzac  really  exerted  an  influence  on  the  literature  of 
the  day  that  was  not  only  considerable,  but  usually  bene- 
ficial. If  sometimes  he  had  only  words  to  give  the  public, 
they  were  very  good  words.  He  cultivated  a  dignified 
style;  he  avoided  faults  of  expression;  he  improved  the 
prose  composition  of  the  day. 

Voiture  was  a  versifier  of  some  merit,  though  he  also 
enjoyed  a  reputation  with  contemporaries,  which  has  not 
been  confirmed  by  posterity.  But  he  possessed  skill 
in  a  branch  of  literature  for  which  the  French  language 
is  well  adapted,  and  in  which  much  has  since  been  written 
that  possesses  the  considerable  merit  of  furnishing  amuse- 
ment. Voiture  wrote  facile  verses  about  ladies  and  wits, 
the  poetry  of  badinage  and  good  society.  He  praised 
the  beauties  of  the  time,  in  language  which  loses  force 
from  its  excessive  sweetness.  M.  Voiture,  said  one  of 
the  ladies  whose  charms  he  described,  ought  to  be  pre- 
served in  sugar.  Such,  perhaps,  would  be  an  appropriate 
fate  for  his  poetry.  But,  save  in  the  drama,  little  poetry 
of  any  permanent  merit  appeared  during  the  first  half  of 
the  century.  Bad  taste,  combined  with  literary  trifling 
and  a  foolish  daintiness  about  words,  were  the  character- 
istics of  most  of  the  poets  whom  Boileau  attacked  a  few 
years  later.  The  French  Academy  had  been  created,  but 
its  energies  were  largely  employed  in  beginning  the  dic- 
tionary which  it  took  two  centuries  to  finish,  and  it  in- 
creased the  taste  for  minute  verbal  niceties.  Cabals  were 
formed  to  have  some  word  received  in  the  dictionary,  or 
excluded  from  it.  Purism  is  not  often  a  sign  of  vigor, 
and  it  was  not  then. 

It  was  among  a  community  which  was  interested  in  such 
controversies,  that  Mile,  de  Scudery  found  readers  for  her 
interminable  romances.  The  popularity  which  they  en- 
joyed in  her  own  day  was  very  great  and  was  not  confined 
to  France.  Pepys  tells  us  :  "  I  fell  a-reading  Fuller's  His- 
tory of  Abbeys,  and  my  wife  in  Great  Cyrus  till  twelve  at 


SOCIAL   LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  465 

night,"  and  again,  "  I  find  my  wife  troubled  at  my  check- 
ing her  last  night  in  a  coach,  in  her  long  stories  out  of 
Grand  Cyrus."  Long  the  stories  certainly  were,  but  they 
were  not  thought  too  long  by  a  generation  that  had  few 
novels  to  read. 

Mile,  de  Scudery  had  her  own  romance  with  Pellisson, 
who  was  among  the  minor  writers  of  the  day.  Some  of 
her  letters  to  him  have  been  published,  and  they  are 
naturally  and  pleasantly  expressed.  It  shows  the  power 
of  affection,  that  when  Mile,  de  Scudery  wrote  love-letters, 
she  forgot  to  be  prolix  and  ceased  to  be  wearisome. 

Though  the  refinements  of  language  were  carried  to 
excess,  this  was  part  of  the  process  by  which  French  lit- 
erature was  trained  to  the  orderly  and  well-pruned  forms 
which  seem  congenial  to  its  character.  The  rules  which 
Boileau  laid  down,  and  which  he  illustrated  in  his  practice, 
became  part  of  the  code  of  French  poetry,  which  was  un- 
questioned until  this  century,  and  whose  authority, 
though  it  has  been  modified,  has  not  been  abrogated. 

A  strong  influence  towards  developing  a  literature  that 
was  masculine  in  tone,  clear  in  meaning,  and  free  from  af- 
fectation, came  from  the  Port  Royal,  In  his  Provincial 
Letters,  Pascal  reached  a  style  on  which  two  centuries  have 
been  unable  to  make  any  improvement.  They  had  the 
wit  that  comes  from  an  ingenious  but  not  an  affected 
mode  of  composition,  and  showed  the  qualities  of  the  best 
French  prose,  delicacy  of  expression,  combined  with  per- 
fect clearness  of  meaning.  Pascal  wrote  a  little  volume 
of  meditations,  and  he  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  great 
thinkers  of  the  world  ;  he  published  a  few  letters,  and  they 
represent  the  perfection  of  style  in  French  literature. 

But  though  the  other  disciples  of  the  Port  Royal 
reached  no  such  eminence,  they  did  much  for  French 
prose.  Their  writings  were  as  vigorous  as  their  belief. 
They  were  adorned  by  few  flowers  of  rhetoric,  and  they 
were  defaced  by  no  obscurities  of  expression. 

The  tendency  to  clearness  and  good  taste,  which  was 
developed  in  literature,  had  its  effect  on  the  oratory  of  the 


466      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

pulpit  and  the  bar,  though  the  improvement  did  not  be- 
come marked  until  somewhat  later.  The  oratory  of  the 
first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  so  far  as  it  has  been 
preserved,  seems  ordinarily  to  have  been  turgid  and  weari- 
some. The  speeches  were  very  long  and  equally  dull. 
An  undigested  mass  of  pedantry  was  inflicted  upon  the 
unhappy  listener.  The  history  of  antiquity  and  the 
courses  of  the  heavenly  bodies  were  ransacked  for  illustra- 
tions to  adorn  the  harangues  of  the  members  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  the  dissertations  of  divines.  In  the  eloquence 
of  the  pulpit,  Bossuet  was  among  the  first  who  reached  a 
standard  which  would  now  be  regarded  as  high,  but  his 
influence  was  mostly  felt  in  the  latter  part  of  the  century. 
Improvement  in  forensic  speaking  came  still  later.  There 
was  no  political  oratory.  The  government  of  France  af- 
forded no  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  this  kind  of 
public  speaking. 

The  period  furnished  to  the  history  of  metaphysics  one 
of  its  great  names.  Descartes'  Discourse  on  Method 
was  published  in  1637,  and  his  other  important  works  fol- 
lowed. He  had  left  France  in  order  to  prepare  them. 
The  subtle  and  dangerous  air  of  Paris,  he  said,  inclined  the 
brain  toward  vanity  and  made  one  produce  only  chimeras. 
In  the  tranquil  cloud  and  fog  of  Holland  he  found  an  at- 
mosphere which  he  preferred  for  the  development  of  his 
thoughts.  Notwithstanding  Descartes'  genius,  and  the 
discoveries  with  which  his  name  is  to  some  extent  identi- 
fied, his  treatises,  like  those  of  most  metaphysicians,  have 
left  mankind  little  nearer  any  solution  of  the  mysteries  of 
existence.  But  he  justly  ranks  among  the  great  French 
writers.  Preceding  Pascal  in  time,  he  was  not  far  his  in- 
ferior in  command  of  the  language  in  which  he  wrote. 

But  it  was  the  drama  in  which  this  period  shows  the 
most  extraordinary  progress.  The  productions  of  Cor- 
neille  and  Moli^re  seem  the  more  remarkable,  because 
there  existed  no  prior  French  dramas  of  any  value,  and 
because  they  were  not  surrounded  by  such  a  school  of 
dramatic  writers  as  was  found  in  England  during  the  age 


SOCIAL  LIFE  AND   CUSTOMS.  467 

of  Shakespeare.  Corneille,  indeed,  took  the  inspiration,  as 
he  did  the  subject  of  the  Cid  from  the  Spanish  drama.  He 
has  improved  on  his  models,  but  the  tone  of  the  Cid  is 
Spanish.  The  pride  and  the  punctiHos  of  honor  which 
are  described  together  with  a  love  that  is  also  Castilian 
in  its  character  seemed  peculiarly  fitted  for  French  taste 
in  the  time  of  Richelieu,  and  the  Cid  had  a  prodigious 
success.  It  has  still  kept  its  place  on  the  French  stage, 
but  later  in  his  life  Corneille  was  less  fortunate  in  the  in- 
fluences by  which  his  plays  were  affected.  To  a  few  great 
plays  he  added  many  whose  merit  does  not  entitle  them 
to  a  high  position  in  French  literature. 

None  of  Corneille's  works  appeal,  like  Moli^re's  plays, 
to  the  feelings  which  are  common  to  all  the  world.  But 
Molifere  in  his  creations  was  still  more  without  literary 
models.  He  saw  the  world,  as  Shakespeare  did,  during  his 
life  as  an  actor.  The  humanity  which  he  observed  fur- 
nished his  inspiration,  and  his  practical  experience  on  the 
stage  assisted  in  teaching  the  forms  under  which  character 
must  be  portrayed  to  adapt  it  for  public  representation.  He 
acted  in  the  plays  he  wrote,  and  the  characters  were  to  some 
extent  chosen  so  as  to  afford  suitable  r61es  for  the  mem- 
bers of  his  troupe.  Before  Mazarin's  death  Moli^re  had 
produced  "L'Etourdi,"  "  D^pit  Amoureux,"  "  Les  Pr^- 
cieuses  Ridicules,"  and  **  Sganarelle."  The  troupe  had 
acted  with  success  before  the  king,  the  cardinal,  and  the 
Prince  of  Conti,  and  it  had  gained  the  favor  of  the  theatre- 
goers of  Paris.  During  his  remaining  years,  Moli^re  had 
but  to  continue  his  delineations  of  the  different  charac- 
ters, which  he  had  watched  as  closely  as  Shakespeare,  and 
which  he  portrayed  as  faithfully.  It  was  the  comic  side  of 
life  that  attracted  his  attention.  His  were  the  first  come- 
dies of  high  merit  in  French  literature,  and  they  still 
remain  the  best. 

In  another  department,  also,  the  art  of  pleasing  was 
brought  to  its  perfection.  The  most  of  Mme.  de  S^vign^'s 
letters  to  her  daughter  were  written  later,  but  her  earlier 
ones  are  the  equal  of  any,  and  have  the  characteristics  of 


468       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

all.  A  writer  much  less  known  is  no  unworthy  member 
of  the  same  school.  Guy  Patin  said  that  he  put  neither 
Phcebus  nor  Balzac  in  his  letters.  He  put  in  them,  how- 
ever, a  terse  and  racy  French  which  makes  one  regret  that 
he  did  not  write  more  about  politics  and  less  about  medi- 
cine. 

Memoir  writing  seems  to  have  been  the  weakness  of 
those  of  noble  blood.  Many  who  were  prominent  at  the 
time  have  left  their  memoirs  to  instruct  posterity  about 
the  events  of  the  period,  and  the  achievements  of  the 
writers.  The  least  trustworthy  and  by  far  the  best  writ- 
ten are  those  of  Cardinal  Retz.  The  cardinal  sought 
to  deceive  posterity  about  his  own  role,  in  which  he  has 
largely  failed,  and  to  show  his  skill  in  describing  the 
characters  and  events  of  a  troubled  period,  in  which  he  has 
been  singularly  successful.  In  the  literary  qualities  of 
his  memoirs  he  has  surpassed  his  enemy,  Rochefoucauld. 
But  Rochefoucauld  revenged  himself  for  the  disappoint- 
ments he  had  met  from  the  world  by  dissecting,  in  maxims 
that  have  become  part  of  its  literature,  what  is  selfish  and 
despicable  in  human  nature. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

THE    PORT   ROYAL. 

The  reigns  of  Louis  XIII.  and  XIV.  are  among  the  great 
eras  of  the  Gallican  Church,  but  it  was  from  the  impulse 
given  early  in  the  century  that  so  much  was  accomplished 
during  its  course.  At  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century  the  condition  of  the  Church  was  by  no  means  edi- 
fying. The  fierce  agitation  of  the  League  and  the  wars  of 
religion  had  been  succeeded  by  apathy  in  some  quarters, 
and  immorality  in  others.  Content  with  the  triumph  of 
the  Church,  many  forgot  to  practise  its  precepts.  There  was 
an  abundant  supply  of  those  whose  lives  were  nominally 
devoted  to  the  service  of  religion.  It  was  estimated  that 
there  were  in  France  over  100,000  of  the  secular  clergy,  87,- 
000  monks,  and  80,000  nuns.  But  not  all  of  this  great  body 
were  animated  by  Christian  zeal,  or  devoted  to  a  Christian 
life.  Among  many  of  them,  it  was  declared,  there  could 
be  found  neither  charity,  nor  intelligence,  nor  good  morals. 
It  would  have  seemed  probable  that  the  scepticism  of  the 
renaissance,  which  had  found  utterance  in  France  during 
the  sixteenth  century,  would  have  proceeded  with  its  work, 
and  that  we  should  at  once  have  found  the  age  of  Vol- 
taire and  the  Encyclopedists.  But  such  was  not  the  case. 
The  seventeenth  century  in  France  was  an  age  of  faith. 
The  influence  of  the  Church  increased.  The  zeal  of  the 
faithful  became  greater.  The  desire  for  a  devotional  life 
has  rarely  been  more  widespread. 

The  establishment  of  various  institutions  had  a  great 
effect  in  increasing,  both  the  ability,  and  the  zeal  of  the 
French  clergy.     In   161 1  the  Oratory  was  founded,  and 

469 


470      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

its  members  did  important  work  in  cultivating  the  intel- 
ligence, and  purifying  the  morals  of  the  clergy.  Semina- 
ries for  the  education  of  the  priests  were  either  founded 
or  remodelled,  and  that  of  Saint  Sulpice  is  only  one  among 
many  of  such  institutions,  whose  influence  has  helped  to 
establish  the  high  standard  of  the  Gallican  Church. 

Such  steps  were  accompanied  by  the  display  of  great 
zeal  in  works  of  charity.  The  chief  glory  of  this  benefi- 
cence belongs  to  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul.  Vincent  de 
Paul  earned  his  canonization,  not  by  apocryphal  mira- 
cles, but  by  devoting  sixty  years  of  untiring  labor  to 
the  aid  of  the  poor,  the  relief  of  the  distressed,  the  care 
of  the  sick,  the  succor  of  every  form  of  misery.  No 
other  man  in  the  century  did  so  much  to  lessen  the 
burden  of  human  woe.  He  accomplished  great  results, 
because  he  not  only  himself  worked  in  the  cause,  but 
inspired  others  to  follow  his  example.  He  organized 
brotherhoods  of  charity,  and  associations  both  of  men 
and  women,  for  various  good  works.  In  1625  he  formed 
the  congregation  of  the  Priests  of  the  Mission,  who  were 
specially  intended  for  missionary  and  charitable  work  in 
the  country. 

During  the  long  years  of  war  the  priests  and  followers 
of  Saint  Vincent  were  found  in  Lorraine,  in  Picardy,  in 
Champagne,  wherever  the  need  was  greatest,  extend- 
ing charity  on  a  colossal  scale  to  relieve  the  enormous 
misery  of  the  times.' 

This  zeal  in  religious  and  charitable  work  was  attended 
also  by  a  large  growth  in  the  number  of  the  monasteries, 
and  of  their  inmates.  .So  many  new  monasteries  were 
founded,  that  Richelieu  at  last  endeavored  to  check  an 
increase  which  he  thought  immoderate.  Other  causes  than 
religious  zeal  accounted  to  some  extent  for  the  great  num- 
bers who  retired  from  the  world.  In  the  families  of  nobles 
or  those  of  prominent  position,  daughters  for  whom  there 
seemed  no  opening  in  the  world  were  often  destined  to 

'  The  reports  of  the  Priests  of  the  Mission  are  often  the  best  authority  for 
the  condition  of  the  people,  to  whose  needs  they  ministered. 


THE  PORT  ROYAL.  47 1 

become  religious  recluses,  without  considering  whether 
they  had  a  calling  for  such  a  life.  Indeed,  they  were 
often  put  in  convents  when  young  children,  and  before 
even  their  parents  could  have  any  knowledge  of  their 
dispositions.  For  the  younger  sons  of  good  families  the 
Church  also  furnished  a  livelihood.  In  times  of  war,  the 
public  distress  brought  some  to  seek  refuge  from  the 
world.  But  to  such  causes  must  be  added  a  religious 
spirit  extending  through  all  classes,  which  led  many  to 
leave  the  world  and  seek  to  pass  their  lives  in  pious  soli- 
tude. 

The  conditions  which  influenced  the  secular  clergy  in 
the  early  part  of  the  century,  had  also  affected  the  monas- 
teries. In  many  of  them  there  was  indifference,  and  in 
some  of  them  there  was  immorality.  But  reforms  were 
effected  which  often  worked  an  entire  change  in  their 
religious  character,  and  in  the  conduct  of  their  inmates. 
La  Trappe  became  especially  known  for  the  severity  of 
its  discipline. 

But  the  Port  Royal  was  the  scene  of  the  phases  of 
devotional  life  of  most  interest  to  posterity.  It  was  made 
illustrious  by  the  piety  and  devotion  of  the  members  of 
the  monastery,  and  by  the  remarkable  men  who  there 
lived  in  solitary  retirement,  and  who  became  identified 
with  its  history.  The  names  of  the  Arnaulds  and  the 
Pascals,  of  Andilly  and  Tillemont  are  suggested  by  the 
place  which  was  their  chosen  home,  or  their  dearest  refuge. 
Racine  and  Mme.  de  Longueville  there  found  retreat  or 
inspiration.' 

The  monastery  of  Port  Royal  in  the  Fields  was  in  a 
narrow   valley  about    eighteen    miles   from    Paris.      The 

'  The  literature  on  the  subject  of  the  Port  Royal  and  the  Jansenist  con- 
troversy is  very  copious.  By  far  the  best  account  of  the  Port  Royal  is 
its  history  by  Sainte  Beuve?  which  is  one  of  the  most  perfect  histories  in 
literature.  Sainte  Beuve  was  far  removed  from  the  beliefs  of  Saint  Cyran 
and  the  Arnaulds,  but,  with  the  capacity  for  appreciating  different  modes  of 
thought,  which  was  the  characteristic  of  his  genius,  he  has  described  the 
history  and  doctrines  of  the  Port  Royal  with  such  fulness  and  accuracy  that 
little  remains  for  others  but  to  follow  his  views. 


472      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


situation  was  a  gloomy  one,  near  an  unwholesome  swamp, 
and  seemingly  cut  off  from  any  view  of  the  world.  Such 
were  the  places  ordinarily  chosen  by  those  of  the  order  of 
Saint  Bernard,  to  which  this  abbey  belonged.  St.  Bruno, 
it  was  said,  chose  the  woods,  and  St.  Benedict  the  hills, 
but  St.  Bernard  established  his  monasteries  in  valleys, 
that  the  inmates  might  lose  the  view  of  the  world  and  keep 
only  that  of  Heaven. 

Port  Royal  was  an  ancient  foundation,  claiming  to  owe 
its  origin  to  Mathilde  de  Garlande,  in  1204.  Its  long 
history  is  obscure,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  its  spiritual  condition  was  the  same  as 
that  of  most  convents  at  that  time.  The  inmates  visited 
in  the  neighborhood  and  received  visits.  They  wore 
masks  and  dressed  in  the  fashion  of  the  time.  Religious 
services  were  attended  with  moderate  regularity,  but  the 
confessor  was  a  Bernardin  so  ignorant  that  he  did  not 
understand  the  Pater,  did  not  know  a  word  of  the  cate- 
chism, and  never  opened  any  book  but  his  breviary.  For 
more  than  thirty  years  there  had  been  no  preaching  there, 
except  at  the  professions  of  a  few  of  the  nuns. 

In  pleasant  weather  its  inmates  played  games  and 
walked  in  the  court.  On  wet  days  they  read  romances. 
There  were  no  scandalous  improprieties,  but  neither  was 
there  any  intense  religious  zeal.  Of  this  monastery 
Jacqueline  Arnauld,  a  member  of  a  prominent  parlia- 
mentary family  and  the  daughter  of  a  distinguished 
lawyer,  became  the  abbess  at  the  age  of  ten.  Such  things 
were  frequent  when  family  influence  was  sufficiently 
strong,  and  the  young  Jacqueline  spent  her  early  years 
after  the  fashion  of  her  associates.  But  the  light  soon 
shone  upon  her  spiritual  darkness.  While  listening  to  a 
sermon  "  God  touched  me,"  she  writes,  "  so  from  that 
moment  I  was  more  happy  than  I  had  formerly  thought 
myself  miserable,  in  being  a  religieuse"  This  first 
awakening  was  followed  by  violent  struggles  for  some 
months,  but  at  last  grace  triumphed.  Mother  Angelique, 
to  use  her  religious  name,  was  about  seventeen  when  she 


THE   PORT  ROYAL.  473 

began  her  work  of  reformation.  She  found  the  sisters 
ready  to  join  with  her.  All  put  their  property  into  a 
common  fund.  A  more  decided  step  was  to  close  the 
abbey  to  outsiders,  and  even  to  the  families  of  the  sisters. 
Mother  Angelique  soon  put  this  reform  into  execution. 
Her  father  visited  her,  but  she  refused  to  talk  with  him 
except  through  a  wicket,  or  to  admit  him  into  what  were 
called  the  '' lieux  r^guUersy  M.  Arnauld  stormed  at 
this  sudden  resistance  of  his  daughter,  and  sought  to 
force  an  entrance.  His  wife  and  children  called  Mother 
Angelique  an  ingrate  and  a  monster.  In  the  intensity  of 
her  feeling  she  fainted,  but  the  contest  was  won,  and  the 
family  at  last  yielded  to  her  views.  The  day  of  the 
wicket,  as  this  was  called,  the  25th  of  September,  1609, 
may  be  regarded  as  the  public  beginning  of  the  rigorous 
and  intense  religious  life  of  the  Port  Royal. 

Various  names  are  associated  with  the  history  of  the 
place,  as  it  grew  from  a  monastery  known  for  a  piety 
which  recalled  the  early  days  of  Christianity,  until  it  be- 
came finally  the  object  of  a  fierce  persecution,  when  it  was 
identified  with  the  cause  of  Jansenism.  In  the  early  days, 
when  Mother  Angelique  and  her  religious  household  were 
in  the  joyful  freshness  of  a  newly  kindled  faith  and  zeal, 
we  find  them  in  relations  with  Francis  of  Sales,  Bishop  of 
Geneva,  who  was  in  due  time  added  to  the  saints  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  He  was  a  strong  contrast  to  the  stern 
St.  Cyran,  who  was  later  to  exert  so  great  an  influence 
over  the  Port  Royal.  Filled  with  a  fervent  piety,  Francis 
of  Sales  grasped  the  poetical  phases  of  religion.  The 
stern  mysteries  of  life  which  appalled  Pascal  were  not 
perceived  by  him.  He  felt  but  a  gospel  of  love  to  be 
practised  in  a  world  of  beauty.  His  writings  are  filled 
with  metaphors  and  in  their  tender  perception  of  nature 
sometimes  remind  one  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  When  he 
saw  a  beautiful  valley  he  said :  "  These  places  are  agree- 
able and  fertile  and  the  waters  flow  to  them.  Thus  the 
waters  of  celestial  Grace  flow  into  humble  souls,  and  leave 
dry  the  tops  of  the  mountains."     And  at  the  sight  of  a 


474      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

fountain  he  cried  :  "  When  shall  we  have  in  our  hearts  the 
fountains  of  living  waters ;  when  shall  we  drink  freely  at 
the  fountain  of  our  Lord?"  And  of  the  rivers  he  said: 
"When  shall  we  go  to  God,  as  the  waters  to  the  sea?" 
Such  a  man  found  in  the  fresh  piety  of  the  young 
Mother  Angelique  a  strong  delight.  His  character  and 
teachings  fitted  him  peculiarly  for  influence  over  women, 
and  Saint  Francis  had  many  who  looked  to  him  as  their 
constant  adviser.  Their  influence  tended,  perhaps,  to  in- 
crease the  natural  soft  exuberance  of  his  religion,  until  it 
lacked  something  of  the  spirit  which  is  needed  in  a  world 
that  cannot  always  be  overcome  by  metaphors  and  pleas- 
ant words.  Says  Nicole,  the  disciple  of  Port  Royal, 
speaking  of  priests  and  confessors  :  "  There  is  a  spiritual 
gallantry  as  well  as  a  sensual,  and  if  one  does  not  keep 
guard,  intercourse  with  women  ordinarily  ends  in  this." 
The  somewhat  masculine  religion  of  the  sisters  of  the  Port 
Royal  found  in  Saint  Cyran  and  Arnauld  more  congenial 
teachers. 

In  the  meantime  the  monastery  largely  increased  in 
numbers.  Mother  Angelique's  piety  and  administrative 
ability  had  attracted  such  attention  that  in  1618  she  was 
removed  to  the  Abbey  of  Maubuisson,  where  a  reform  was 
sadly  needed.  Henry  IV.  had  made  abbess  a  sister  of 
Gabrielle  D'Estre^s,  a  woman  whose  morals  were  those  of 
Gabrielle,  unredeemed  by  her  grace.  Her  scandalous  life 
became  unbearable,  and  Louis  XIII.  ordered  her  to  be 
removed.  She  refused  to  obey,  and  had  to  be  violently 
carried  away  by  the  officers.  The  difficult  task  was  left 
of  reforming  the  morals  that  had  been  formed  under  her 
tuition.  Mother  Angelique  found  the  sisters  so  ignorant 
of  all  Christian  duties  that  they  did  not  even  know  how 
to  confess.  They  had  devised  three  forms  of  confession : 
one  to  be  used  on  great  festivals,  one  on  Sundays,  and 
one  on  other  days.  These  they  had  written  in  a  book,  and 
they  were  used  by  all  the  sisters.  But  even  over  such 
natures  the  new  abbess  gained  an  influence,  and  she  slowly 
and  cautiously  changed  the  forms  and  the  spirit  of  the 


THE  PORT  ROYAL.  475 

monastery.  To  assist  in  leavening  the  body,  she  intro- 
duced some  thirty  new  sisters,  mostly  poor,  whom  she 
more  easily  formed  to  a  religious  life.  After  some  time 
the  Mother  was  relieved  of  her  duties  there,  and  returned 
to  the  Port  Royal.  But  the  nuns  of  Maubuisson  com- 
plained that  she  had  filled  their  house  with  poor  girls,  who 
brought  nothing  with  which  to  defray  their  expenses.^ 
She  appealed  to  the  members  of  the  Port  Royal,  and, 
although  already  poor,  they  joyfully  agreed  that  the  thirty 
should  share  and  increase  their  poverty.  The  recruits 
were  received  by  the  sisters  singing  a  Te  Deum  over  this 
new  victory  of  the  faith.  The  numbers  at  the  Port  Royal 
had  increased  to  eighty,  and  the  situation  was  so  unhealthy 
that  there  were  many  deaths.  In  1626  they  moved  to 
Paris,  and  the  abbey  in  the  fields  remained  for  many  years 
deserted. 

M.  Zamet,  a  pious  but  not  a  great  man,  for  a  while  had 
the  spiritual  charge  of  the  Port  Royal,  but  in  1634  the 
abb6  of  St.  Cyran  became  its  director.  To  his  influence 
is  due  the  position  it  took  in  the  coming  conflict  of 
Jansenism,  and  the  effects  of  his  teachings  can  be  seen 
in  the  sisters,  and  in  most  of  the  illustrious  recluses  wha 
attached  themselves  to  the  monastery. 

St.  Cyran  had  been  an  early  associate  of  Jansenius,. 
whose  writings  became  such  a  fire-brand  in  the  Church. 
As  young  men  they  devoted  the  most  of  five  years  to  an 
intense  study  of  St.  Augustine.  It  is  said  Jansenius  read 
all  of  his  works  ten  times,  and  thirty  times  his  treatises 
against  the  Pelagians.  The  two  students  resolved  to 
attempt  a  reformation  in  the  belief  of  the  Church,  which 
they  thought  was  falling  away  from  many  of  the  tenets 
of  the  father.  Jansenius  was  presently  made  bishop  of 
Ypres  by  the  Spanish  as  a  reward  for  a  political  tract, 
but  he  pursued  his  studies  in  his  new  bishopric.  The 
abb^  of  St.  Cyran  became  a  prolific  theological  writer. 
He  was  a  stern,  dogmatic,  unwavering  man,  caring 
nothing  for  temporal  honors,  and  holding  narrowly  and 
intensely  to  what  he  believed  to  be  the  truth.     He  was 


476       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

an  ardent  student,  independent  in  thought  and  conduct, 
one  who  loved  to  dwell  on  the  rigorous  tenets  of  St. 
Augustine,  and  made  no  compromise  with  a  lax  faith  or 
an  e^sy  piety.  Though  stern  in  his  belief,  St.  Cyran 
taught  a  practical  and  subdued  Christianity,  which  was 
sometimes  a  little  exceeded  when  in  later  years  the  sisters 
of  the  Port  Royal  came  to  regard  themselves  as  confessors 
of  the  faith,  and  seemed  almost  to  court  martyrdom. 

"  Avoid  exaggeration,"  said  he.  "  There  is  more  hu- 
mility in  confessing  simply."  "  You  will  engage  in  reli- 
gious work  during  Lent,"  he  writes  to  Sister  Marie  Claire, 
another  of  the  Arnaulds,  "  but  without  excess,  that  you 
may  persevere.  It  is  contrary  to  humility  to  wish  to  do 
extraordinary  things.  We  are  not  saints,  that  we  may  do 
the  deeds  of  saints.  We  must  keep  humbly  to  our  medi- 
ocrity." For  the  sometimes  excessive  zeal  of  the  sisters 
of  the  Port  Royal  a  better  director  than  St.  Cyran  could 
not  have  been  found. 

But  his  relations  were  soon  interrupted  by  the  suspi- 
cious tyranny  of  Richelieu.  It  is  difficult  to  say  what 
excited  the  cardinal's  animosity,  unless  it  was  the  in- 
dependence and  vigor  of  St.  Cyran's  character.  He  had 
refused  the  minister's  favors,  and  as  he  would  not  be  a  fol- 
lower he  was  held  to  be  an  enemy.  Upon  a  ground  that 
does  not  deserve  to  be  called  even  a  pretext,  the  abb6  of 
St.  Cyran  was  confined  in  the  Bastille  in  1638,  and  he  was 
not  released  until  after  Richelieu's  death.  He  pursued 
his  studies  there  with  a  calmness  not  to  be  disturbed  by 
imprisonment. 

In  1641  the  comedy  of  ','  Mirame  "  was  performed  with 
great  splendor  at  the  cardinal's  palace,  and  it  was  wit- 
nessed by  various  courtly  bishops.  John  de  Wert,  the 
brilliant  captain,  then  a  prisoner  of  war,  was  brought  to 
see  the  play,  and  was  asked  how  he  liked  it.  *'  It  was 
very  beautiful,"  he  replied,  *'  but  what  surprises  me  most 
is  that,  in  this  very  Christian  kingdom,  I  see  the  bishops 
at  the  comedy,  while  the  saints  are  in  prison." 

In  the  meantime,  the   long   labors  of   Jansenius   had 


THE  PORT  ROYAL.  477 

brought  forth  their  fruit.  In  1640,  the  Augustinus  ap- 
peared, in  which  the  bishop  of  Ypres  sought,  by  a  full  re- 
production of  the  doctrines  of  St.  Augustine,  to  bring  the 
Church  back  from  the  errors  of  the  Pelagians  to  the  pure 
and  severe  tenets  of  the  great  father.  The  doctrine  of 
grace,  the  very  corner-stone  of  the  Christian  faith,  was 
that  which  Jansenius  labored  to  revive.  Saint  Augustine 
had  taught  that,  before  the  fall  of  our  first  parents,  man, 
being  in  a  state  of  innocence,  could  of  his  own  free  will  do 
works  acceptable  to  God  ;  but  after  that  his  nature  was  so 
corrupted,  that  no  good  thing  could  proceed  from  it,  save 
only  as  divine  grace  worked  upon  him.  This  grace  God 
gave  as  He  saw  fit,  working  under  his  eternal  decrees,  and 
man,  except  as  predestined  and  elected  to  its  sovereign 
help,  could  accomplish  no  righteous  act,  and  must  incur 
God's  just  wrath.  But  the  Pelagians  and  semi-Pelagians 
had  departed  from  this  doctrine,  and  attributed  a  capacity 
to  please  God,  to  man's  free  will  and  the  deeds  proceed- 
ing from  it — a  belief  which  could  but  foster  his  carnal 
pride  and  hasten  his  damnation. 

The  Jesuits  were  always  desirous  to  teach  religion  so 
that  it  could  most  easily  be  accepted,  and  they  had  in- 
clined to  semi-Pelagian  doctrines,  rather  than  to  the  diffi- 
cult truths  of  St.  Augustine.  Yet  no  one  questioned  his 
authority.  The  dispute  was  as  to  the  exact  interpretation 
of  his  writings.  Jansenius  claimed  to  have  nothing  in  his 
great  book  save  the  very  word  of  Augustine,  or  its  legiti- 
mate result.  The  Jesuits  replied  that  his  writings  con- 
tained neither  the  doctrine  of  Augustine  nor  the  truth  of 
God.  They  appealed  to  the  Pope  for  the  condemnation 
of  these  heresies. 

Jansenius  had  died  before  the  publication  of  his  book, 
but  his  followers,  who  were  soon  named  after  him,  en- 
deavored to  defend  his  works  from  censure.  The  Church 
of  Rome  has  usually  been  slow  in  branding  as  heretical 
any  thing  that  did  not  question  its  authority.  With  a  wise 
tolerance,  it  has  kept  in  one  fold  those  whose  differences 
in  dogma  were  greater  than  divide  many  Protestant  sects. 


478        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

Jansenius  had  submitted  his  writings  to  the  judgment  of 
the  Pope.  His  followers  were  among  the  most  sincere 
Catholics.  A  condemnation  that  would  tend  to  alienate 
them  seemed  unwise ;  and  the  Papacy  has  always  inclined 
towards  a  discreet  treatment  of  the  bewildering  questions 
of  predestination  and  free  will. 

It  was  not  until  1653  that  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits 
succeeded  in  obtaining  the  condemnation  of  the  offending 
book.  In  that  year,  Innocent  X.  issued  a  bull,  by  which 
he  condemned  as  heretical  five  propositions  contained  in 
the  Augustinus.  The  famous  five  propositions  in  which 
it  was  declared  Jansenius  had  taught  heresy,  are  these : 
First,  that  some  commandments  of  God  are  impossible 
to  the  just  with  the  strength  they  have,  no  matter  what 
their  desires  or  their  efforts,  for  grace  is  lacking.  Second, 
that  in  a  state  of  fallen  nature,  one  never  resists  interior 
grace.  Third,  that  to  deserve  praise  or  blame,  it  is  not 
needful  that  man  should  have  liberty  opposed  to  necessity; 
it  is  enough  that  he  should  have  liberty  opposed  to  con- 
straint. Fourth,  that  it  was  a  semi-Pelagian  heresy  to  be- 
lieve that  the  will  of  man  could  choose  whether  it  would 
resist  or  obey  interior  preventing  grace  ;  and,  fifth,  that  it 
was  a  similar  error  to  hold  that  Christ  had  shed  his  blood 
generally,  and  for  all  men. 

The  Jansenists  have  always  yielded  to  the  papal  author- 
ity in  admitting  that  these  propositions  are  heretical. 
The  great  strife  has  been  whether  the  propositions  them- 
selves could  be  found  in  the  Augustinus. 

Some,  like  Lancelot  and  St.  Cyran,  took  bolder  ground, 
and  claimed  that  the  condemned  propositions,  whether  in 
Jansenius  or  not,  were  plainly  contained  in  the  writings 
of  St.  Augustine.  But  the  dispute  was  rather  one  of  fact 
than  of  belief.  Acknowledging  the  Pope's  authority  in 
declaring  matters  of  faith,  the  Jansenists  claimed  that  in 
the  decision  of  matters  of  fact  he  could  err,  and  his  judg- 
ment did  not  necessarily  control  the  faithful.  The  Jesuits 
replied  that  the  Pope  had  alike  declared  that  the  propo- 
sitions were  heretical,  and  that  they  were  contained  in  the 


THE  PORT  ROYAL.  479 

Augustinus.  His  authority  could  not  be  questioned  in 
either  decision. 

The  heretical  statements  in  their  exact  wording  do  not 
seem  to  be  found  in  Jansenius.  But  his  great  book  fur- 
nished abundant  material  for  controversy.  Louis  XIV. 
ordered  the  Count  of  Gramont  to  read  the  book  and  see  if 
he  could  find  the  disputed  propositions.  When  the  count 
gave  the  result  of  his  studies,  he  said  that  if  the  five 
propositions  were  there,  they  were  certainly  incognito. 
Among  students  with  less  wit  and  more  theological  learn- 
ing, some  claimed  to  find  them  almost  in  the  very  words, 
while  others  could  discover  nothing  that  countenanced 
them.  The  superficial  reader  finds  passages  that  seem  to 
sustain  Innocent  in  declaring  that  the  book  contained  the 
offending  propositions.  Indeed,  he  may  well  think  with 
St.  Cyran,  that  in  St.  Augustine  himself  the  same  views 
can  be  discovered.  But  in  these  great  masses  of  doctrinal 
learning,  what  can  apparently  be  educed  from  one  sentence 
is  often  modified  and  limited  in  another.  It  would  be 
presumptuous  for  most  to  hazard  an  opinion  when  Jan- 
senius himself  said  that  modern  theplogians  seemed  not 
to  comprehend  "  grace,  in  any  degree,  or  under  any  form, 
either  that  of  angels  or  of  men,  or  before  the  Fall  or 
since,  neither  grace  sufficient,  nor  efficacious,  nor  opera- 
tive, nor  cooperative,  nor  preventing,  nor  subsequent,  nor 
exciting,  nor  assisting." 

The  members  of  the  Port  Royal  adopted  the  Jansenist 
cause.  Saint  Cyran  had  been  a  fellow  worker  with  Jan- 
senius, and  he  welcomed  the  Augustinus  as  a  book  to 
revive  and  purify  the  faith  of  the  Church.  Saint  Cyran 
died  not  long  after  his  release  from  imprisonment,  but 
his  teachings  had  formed  the  beliefs  of  those  under  his 
influence.  The  rigid  predestinarianism  of  Jansen  had  a 
natural  attraction  for  the  stern  zeal  of  the  Port  Royal. 
The  religion  of  the  convent  and  of  those  connected  with 
it  bordered  on  asceticism.  They  lived  in  the  constant  awe 
of  God,  seeking  little  communion  with  the  world,  and 
offering  to  it  little  compromise.     In  such  minds,  aloof 


480        FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

from  earthly  interests,  the  feeHng  of  a  close  dependence  on 
God  grew  stronger ;  the  feeling  that  they,  by  his  eternal 
decrees,  had  been  chosen  and  prepared  as  the  vessels  of 
his  grace,  while  the  heedless  and  godless  worked  out  their 
terrible  fate,  as  the  preordained  objects  of  his  wrath. 

An  intense  and  rigorous  religious  life  adopts  an  intense 
and  rigorous  belief.  The  Jansenists  resembled  the  Eng- 
lish and  American  Puritans.  They  shared  their  Calvin- 
istic  tenets  and  their  strict  morality.  A  Jansenist,  said 
the  Jesuits,  is  a  Calvinist  saying  mass.  No  accusation 
was  more  resented  by  those  of  the  Jansenist  party.  They 
sought  no  alliance  with  the  Protestants.  Saint  Cyran  and 
Arnauld  wrote  prolifically  against  the  Calvinists.  They 
were  certainly  separated  from  the  latter  by  their  strong 
devotion  to  two  usages  of  the  Catholic  Church  which 
were  especially  objectionable  to  Protestants — the  mass 
and  the  confessional. 

The  formalism  and  indifference,  which  were  common  at 
the  great  mystery  of  the  mass,  called  forth  Arnauld's 
most  important  work  on  "The  Frequent  Communion." 
The  first  suggestion  of  this  book  is  attributed  to  a  trifling 
incident.  The  Princess  of  Gu^men^  declined  to  go  to  a 
ball  on  a  day  that  she  had  received  the  sacrament.  Her 
friend,  Mme.  de  Sabl^,  remonstrated,  and  produced  a  let- 
ter from  her  Jesuit  confessor  which  laid  down  no  such 
strict  rule.  This  came  into  the  hands  of  Arnauld,'  the 
brother  of  Mother  Angelique,  and  in  reply  he  published 
his  book.  In  it  he  attacked  the  formal  and  superstitious 
use  of  the  communion,  and  demanded  an  interior  change 
and  sincere  repentance,  shown  in  deed  as  well  as  word,  be- 
fore the  sacrament  should  be  administered  and  absolution 
granted.  It  was  an  attack  upon  the  endeavor  of  the  Jesuits 
to  make  easy  and  broad  the  heavenly  road,  to  let  the  Chris- 
tian enjoy  to  the  full  the  pleasures  of  this  world,  without 
danger  of  missing  the  bliss  of  the  next. 

'  Antoine  Arnauld  was  the  youngest  of  twenty  children  ;  of  the  ten  that 
reached  maturity,  nine  chose  the  walks  of  religion  rather  than  those  of  the 
world. 


THE  PORT  ROYAL.  48 1 

Few  devotional  works  have  produced  more  effect. 
Though  expressed  in  the  dry,  syllogistic  form  in  which  Ar- 
nauld  wrote  all  of  his  forty-two  volumes  of  doctrinal  and 
combative  theology,  it  kindled  a  fresh  zeal,  and  was  an  im- 
portant aid  in  bringing  to  the  Port  Royal  many  of  the 
recluses  who  began  to  seek  there  a  modern  Thebais. 

In  1647,  Mother  Angelique  with  some  of  the  sisters  re- 
turned to  Port  Royal  in  the  Fields.  The  convent  at 
Paris  continued  in  close  relations  with  it,  but  the  abbey 
in  the  fields  was  to  exhibit  the  most  important  phases  of 
devotional  life. 

Before  the  return  of  the  sisters,  this  desolate  spot  had 
begun  to  be  the  refuge  for  many  eminent  men,  whose 
careers  became  identified  with  the  fate  of  the  abbey.  "  We 
saw  arrive,"  writes  one  of  them,  "  from  diverse  provinces, 
men  of  different  professions,  who,  like  mariners  that  had 
suffered  shipwreck,  came  to  seek  the  Port." 

M.  le  Maitre,  a  nephew  of  Mother  Angelique,  a  lawyer 
of  much  prominence,  a  counsellor  of  state,  a  favorite  of 
the  chancellor  and  renowned  for  his  eloquent  harangues, 
abandoned  present  prosperity  and  future  eminence,  and 
in  1638  built  a  little  house,  near  the  monastery,  and  be- 
came the  first  of  those  who  might  be  called  the  hermits 
of  the  Port  Royal. 

Not  taking  orders,  nor  becoming  a  member  of  any  re- 
ligious body,  he  Isought  a  life  of  lonely  devotion  in  this 
barren  place.  "  I  have  retired,"  he  writes  his  father,  "  into 
a  house  by  myself,  that  I  may  live  free  from  ambition, 
and  seek  by  penitence  to  move  the  Judge  before  whom  all 
must  appear." 

Others  gradually  followed,  until  there  grew  up  a  com- 
munity, small  in  numbers,  but  strong  in  influence,  united 
in  study,  in  penance,  in  constant  praise  and  worship. 
Though  held  together  by  no  formal  vows,  few  of  those 
who  put  hand  to  the  plough  turned  back  from  the  work. 
They  left  their  beloved  retreat  only  when  expelled  by 
force,  and  with  infinite  regret.  The  monastery  itself  had 
become    dilapidated.       It    was    surrounded    by   stagnant 


482       FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

waters,  and  the  woods  near  by  were  full  of  snakes.  But 
the  recluses  found  religious  joy  amid  this  desolation. 
"  We  sang  aloud,"  says  one,  "  that  the  mingling  of  our 
voices  might  the  better  show  the  joy  of  our  souls." 

As  their  numbers  increased  they  did  much,  however,  to 
improve  the  desolate  retreat  they  had  chosen.  When  M. 
d'Andilly  left  his  position  at  Court  for  the  refuge  which  he 
had  long  desired,  he  carried  to  it  his  taste  for  gardening, 
and  he  spent  both  time  and  money  in  beautifying  the 
place.  He  still  kept  up  some  of  his  relations  with  the 
Court,  where  he  had  been  one  of  the  most  popular  of  men. 
Of  the  choice  fruit  which  he  delighted  to  cultivate,  he  sent 
presents  to  the  queen,  and  to  Mazarin  and  other  friends. 
"To  find  these  clingstone  peaches  excellent,"  he  writes  to 
Mme.  de  Sabl6  when  sending  some  to  her,  "  they  must  be 
eaten  extremely  ripe."  Even  saints  and  hermits  wish 
their  worldly  friends  to  enjoy  the  full  flavor  of  their 
gifts. 

M.  Hamon,  another  of  the  recluses,  was  the  physician 
for  those  of  the  monastery,  and  for  the  poor  in  the  vicinity 
as  well.  He  would  leave  his  solitary  studies  that  he 
loved,  to  walk  about  the  neighboring  country  and  towns, 
treating,  with  a  skill  that  would  have  brought  him  wealth 
in  the  world,  the  sick  who  had  no  means  to  hire  a 
physician. 

Late  in  life,  when  his  infirmities  prevented  his  walking, 
he  rode  on  an  ass  with  his  books  open  before  him.  A 
physician  of  souls  as  well,  he  was  at  times  practically  the 
director  of  the  Port  Royal,  and  he  wrote  much,  breathing 
a  fervent,  though  sometimes  a  flowery,  piety.  "  To  see 
him,"  says  Sainte  Beuve,  "  one  would  give  him  alms,  but 
he  has  words  of  gold ;  he  carries  incense  and  myrrh ;  he  is 
a  king  of  the  Magi  in  rags." 

Some  of  the  recluses  cultivated  the  ground.  Others 
€ven  made  shoes,  and  the  Jesuits  dubbed  them  the  cob- 
blers. They  found  occupation  not  only  in  such  labors  and 
in  solitary  meditation,  but  in  the  more  useful  work  of 
giving  the  young  an  education  that  was  sound  in  learning 


THE  PORT  ROYAL.  483 

and  grounded  in  piety.  The  schools  of  the  Port  Royal 
had  a  troubled  existence  of  about  fifteen  years.  Though 
they  rarely  had  over  fifty  pupils,  yet  in  this  brief  period 
they  left  their  mark.  Racine,  Tillemont,  and  many  others 
of  fruitful  scholarship  and  piety  were  among  the  pupils  who 
were  watched  and  trained  by  the  grave  anchorites  with  a 
tender  and  fostering  care.  These  followers  of  St.  Augus- 
tine combined  with  their  stern  theology  a  feminine  tender- 
ness for  the  young. 

Said  a  Jansenist  of  some  misbeliever:  "He  will  not 
believe  that  infants  who  die  unbaptized  are  damned.  Im- 
agine such  horrible  infidelity."  Yet  St.  Cyran,  who  would 
have  shared  in  this  sentiment,  longed  to  guide  the  growth 
of  children  in  wisdom  and  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  his 
followers  found  the  schools  a  labor  of  love.  Those  en- 
gaged in  other  work  were  almost  jealous  of  those  whose 
labors  were  with  the  children.  "  One  saw  here,"  says 
Fontaine,  himself  one  of  the  recluses  and  their  historian, 
"  the  children  like  the  olive  branches  round  about  the 
table  of  the  Lord."  "  The  teachers,"  says  another, 
"  watched  the  little  flock  continually,  without  losing  them 
from  view,  considering  them  as  a  precious  trust  for  which 
God  would  one  day  demand  a  strict  account." 

Purity  of  soul  and  thought,  perfect  truthfulness,  a 
fresh  and  natural  piety  were  inculcated.  There  was  no 
doctrinal  theology  forced  on  their  young  faith.  The 
Jesuits  tried  to  make  the  queen  believe  that  poisonous 
doctrines  were  distilled  into,  the  scholars'  minds ;  and 
that  they  were  called  "the  little  brothers  of  Grace." 
"  But,"  says  a  scholar  ;  "  never  were  children  educated 
in  greater  simplicity  than  we.  Nowhere  was  less  said 
of  these  theological  questions  than  in  our  schools." 

This  simple  but  effective  religious  training  was  accom- 
panied by  a  solid  and  practical  learning.  Education  was 
made  more  difficult  then  than  now.  In  many  schools 
children  were  first  taught  to  read  in  Latin,  and  the  path 
of  wisdom  was  rendered  unduly  thorny  for  youthful  feet. 
But  the  judicious  teachers  of  the  Port  Royal  taught  read- 


484      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

ing  in  French,  and  in  many  ways  did  much  to  improve 
the  methods  of  French  instruction  and  scholarship.  The 
children  were  thoroughly  trained  also  in  Greek  and  Latin, 
in  logic  and  mathematics.  Their  teachers  published  ad- 
mirable manuals  for  practical  study  in  many  branches. 
"  They  sought,"  says  one,  "  to  render  study  more  agreea- 
ble than  play  or  games." 

The  jealousy  of  the  Jesuits,  who  were  well  aware  of  the 
advantages  of  controlling  the  education  of  the  young, 
at  last  obtained  the  order  for  the  final  dispersion  of  these 
little  schools,  and  in  1660  they  were  closed  for  ever. 

Besides  these  manuals  for  teaching,  the  literature  of 
the  Port  Royal  comprised  many  controversial  works, 
chief  among  them  the  forty-two  volumes  of  Arnauld. 
It  furnished  also  a  translation  of  the  Bible  by  Saci,. 
which,  though  far  from  possessing  the  merits  of  the 
English  version  of  King  James,  is  one  of  the  best  of 
the  many  French  translations.  But  the  works  of  Blaise 
Pascal  were  the  great  productions  of  the  Port  Royal,  as 
he  himself  was  its  chief  glory.  The  famous  Provincial 
Letters  originated  from  the  controversy  over  Jansenism, 
though  they  soon  turned  from  doctrinal  questions  to  an 
attack  on  the  morality  of  the  Jesuits  that  permanently 
injured  the  influence  of  that  body.  Arnauld  had  pub- 
lished some  letters  in  1655  defending  Jansenism,  and  for 
these  he  was  solemnly  condemned  at  the  Sorbonne  by  a 
vote  of  124  to  71.  "  They  thought  it  better  to  censure 
than  to  answer,"  said  Pascal,  "  because  it  was  so  much 
easier  to  find  monks  than  reasons." 

Pascal  himself  took  up  the  controversy  almost  acciden- 
tally. In  four  letters  supposed  to  be  addressed  to  a  pro- 
vincial friend,  he  discussed  the  condemnation  of  Arnauld 
and  the  disputed  questions  of  grace,  with  a  skill  sometimes 
approaching  lightness,  that  differed  greatly  from  the  trea- 
tises of  the  ordinary  Jansenist  theologian,  which  distracted 
the  divine  and  lulled  the  profane  to  sleep.  Encouraged 
by  their  success  Pascal  followed  with  the  great  attack  on 
the  morality  taught  by  the  Jesuits. 


THE  PORT  ROYAL.  485 

Jesuitical  has  become  with  us  a  word  of  reproach.  The 
services  the  Society  of  Jesus  has  rendered  religion,  its  mis- 
sionary work  in  every  part  of  heathendom,  the  zeal  of  its 
martyrs,  the  devotion  of  its  members,  all  that  they  have 
done  for  the  cause  of  charity,  for  the  spread  of  Christian- 
ity, for  the  succor  of  the  distressed,  for  the  relief  of  the 
destitute,  for  the  protection  of  the  oppressed,  is  obscured 
and  clouded  by  a  horror  for  the  teachings,  which  allowed 
any  immorality  and  countenanced  any  crime  that  seemed 
necessary  for  the  preservation  and  extension  of  their  own 
influence. 

The  position  of  the  Jesuits  before  the  Provincial  Letters 
was  far  different.  They  had  indeed  bitter  opponents. 
They  had  formerly  been  expelled  from  France  ;  and  they 
were  charged  with  countenancing  regicide  when  the  king 
was  their  enemy.  But  their  unwavering  fidelity  gave  them 
a  controlling  influence  with  the  Papacy,  which  excited  the 
envy  of  other  orders.  The  confessors  of  almost  every 
crowned  head  and  great  noble,  they  had  a  political  power 
which  made  them  dreaded,  and  often  hated.  Their  in- 
fluence was  little  impaired  by  the  accusations  of  their 
opponents.  Most  people  regarded  them  as  quite  as  good 
as  the  members  of  the  other  great  orders,  and  much  more 
zealous.'  Exerting  a  great  power,  they  might  sometimes 
be  unscrupulous  in  obtaining  it,  or  mild  in  their  condem- 
nation of  the  crimes  of  those  who  supported  them,  but 
such  faults  did  not  distinguish  them  from  many  other 
ecclesiastics.  Occasional  attacks  on  the  teachings  of  some 
of  the  casuists  of  the  order  were  read  with  indifference. 

Such  was  the  position  of  the  society  when  Pascal  re- 
solved to  meet  their  assaults  on  the  theology  of  the  Port 
Royal,  by  an  attack  on  the  morality  of  their  own  teach- 
ings. Under  the  form  of  conversations  with  an  amiable 
but  confiding  Jesuit,  he  displayed  copious  extracts  from 
the  tenets  of  their  writers,  the  rules  which  might  guide 

•  Mazarin,  in  his  Garnets,  in  1644-5,  speaks  of  the  great  influence  of  the 
Jesuits,  and  how  impolitic  it  would  be  to  do  any  thing  to  offend  so  active 
and  powerful  a  body. 


486      FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

the  confessional,  which  should  authorize  absolution,  which 
could  be  safely  practised  by  those  under  their  charge.  All 
was  so  arranged  and  enlivened  that  the  most  indifferent 
reader  would  find  it  entertaining.  The  extracts  in  which 
these  dangerous  teachings  were  found  were  so  full,  so 
numerous,  made  from  so  many  writers  of  high  standing  in 
the  order,  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  Jesuits  to  reply 
that  the  letters  were  mere  prejudiced  summaries,  garbled 
and  distorted  from  misunderstood  texts.  Pascal  did  not 
claim,  nor  could  it  be  claimed,  that  this  great  society  was 
devoted  to  the  corruption  of  morals.  But,  as  he  justly 
said,  their  object  was  not  solely  to  reform  them,  for  that 
would  be  impolitic.  To  the  pious  they  gladly  taught  a 
pure  morality,  but,  for  those  who  clung  to  their  favorite 
sins,  a  specious  explanation  could  cover  them,  and  ensure 
to  the  sinner  who  would  wisely  intrust  the  care  of  his  soul 
to  a  Jesuit,  the  indulgence  of  his  desires  and  the  pardon 
of  heaven  upon  his  acts.  Many  of  their  writers  were  as 
severe  in  their  teachings  as  St.  Cryan,  and  as  spiritual  as 
St.  Francis  of  Sales.  But  many  others  taught  a  very  dif- 
ferent code,  and  the  authority  of  one  learned  doctor  ren- 
dered his  opinion  probable,  and  it  might  be  safely  followed 
by  the  confessor,  even  though  a  great  majority  of  other 
doctors  disapproved  it.  For  it  was  said  that  a  man  given 
to  study  would  not  espouse  an  opinion,  unless  induced  by 
some  good  and  sufficient  reason. 

In  the  copious  writings  of  the  Jesuitical  casuists  opinions 
could  be  found,  and  could  thus  be  safely  followed,  which 
would  accommodate  the  penitent,  if  his  vices  were  any 
thing  but  enmity  to  the  Society  of  Jesus.  Among  them 
were  such  precepts  as  these :  Fasting  is  prescribed,  yet  if 
one  cannot  sleep  without  his  supper,  then  he  may  eat  it. 
But  must  he  go  without  his  dinner  ?  Far  from  it,  for  no  one 
is  obliged  to  change  the  order  of  his  meals.  So  also,  said 
Fillincius,  he  might  be  relieved  from  fasting  if  he  were 
fatigued,  even  if  his  fatigue  arose  from  committing  a  crime, 
or  though  he  had  wearied  himself  expressly  to  be  relieved 
from  his  fast.     Temptation  to  sin  should  be  avoided,  yet 


THE  PORT  ROYAL.  487 

not  if  it  would  give  the  community  occasion  to  talk  or 
would  cause  inconvenience.  The  rich  must  give  of  their 
superfluity.  But  what  is  superfluous?  One  needs 
what  is  required  for  his  position  and  his  relatives. 
"A  man  of  the  world  "  says  Vasquez,  "  can  hardly  have 
any  superfluous  wealth  left  for  charity."  Simony  is 
forbidden,  but  here  we  must  distinguish.  If  one  gives 
money  for  a  benefice  it  is  plainly  simony.  But  if  one 
gives  the  money  in  order  to  move  the  holder  to  confer 
it,  Valentia  tells  us,  he  may  do  that.  So  also,  servants 
should  not  do  immoral  errands,  and  if  they  consent  to 
their  masters'  crimes  they  cannot  be  absolved.  "  Yet," 
says  Bauny :  "  we  must  confess  it  is  otherwise,  if  they  do 
such  things  for  their  own  temporal  gain."  "  Nay  more," 
says  Bauny,  "can  servants  add  to  their  wages  by  taking 
their  masters'  goods  ?  They  may  sometimes,  when  they  are 
so  poor  that  in  seeking  a  position  they  are  obliged  to  accept 
any  offer,  and  other  servants  of  their  sort  receive  better 
pay."  The  intention,  not  the  act,  is  to  be  justly  consid- 
ered. So,  though  duelling  is  wrong,  yet  if  one  should 
go  to  the  appointed  place  only  with  the  intention  of  de- 
fending himself,  that  he  safely  may  do.  And  as  no  one  is 
bound  to  forfeit  his  honor,  he  may  rightly  kill  the  man 
who,  by  inflicting  a  blow,  or  calling  him  a  liar,  seeks  to 
destroy  that  which  is  dearer  than  life.  "  For  otherwise," 
as  Azor  justly  puts  it,  "  the  honor  of  the  innocent  would 
be  constantly  exposed  to  the  malice  of  the  insolent."  But 
this  did  not  justify  the  Jesuits  in  killing  the  Jansenists, 
"  for,"  says  Caramuel,  "  the  Jansenists  call  the  Jesuits  Pela- 
gians. Can  one  kill  them  for  that  ?  No,  for  the  Jansenists 
no  more  could  obscure  the  glory  of  the  society  than  an 
owl  the  sun.     They  only  make  it  seem  brighter." 

For  usurers  the  devices  were  suggested  which  have  been 
the  unavailing  defence  of  Shylocks  in  every  court  of  law, 
but  which  could  be  successfully  pleaded  in  the  courts  of 
conscience.  Judges  themselves  were  subjected  to  a  pe- 
culiar rule.  Most  gains  however  illegal  could  be  kept,  and 
Escobar  says  one  may  keep  what  one  receives  for  murders 


488      FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

and  for  infamous  crimes;  for  the  possession  is  just,  and  one 
owns  what  one  has  gained.  Yet  Molina,  Escobar,  and 
others,  agree  that  a  judge  must  return  what  has  been  paid 
him  for  justice,  for  that  he  is  bound  to  render,  but  he  is 
not  required  to  give  back  what  he  has  received  for  an  un- 
just decision,  for  that,  if  given  at  all,  ought  to  be  paid  for. 
The  rule  about  oaths  is  familiar.  Sanchez  lays  it  down  in 
these  words  :  "  One  may  swear  he  has  not  done  a  thing, 
although  he  has,  by  understanding  with  himself  that  he 
did  not  do  it  on  a  certain  day,  or  before  he  was  born,  or 
by  supposing  some  other  circumstance  that  the  words 
used  do  not  make  known ;  and  this  is  very  serviceable  in 
many  instances,  and  is  always  just  when  it  is  necessary  or 
useful  for  life,  or  honor,  or  property."  "  Nor,"  says  Esco- 
bar, "  do  promises  bind,  when  one  did  not  intend  to  bind 
himself  when  he  made  them."  Even  the  pains  of  such 
penance  as  would  be  imposed  on  one  whom  all  these  devices 
could  not  save  from  sin  might  be  made  very  light  by  the 
confessor,  says  Escobar,  "  if  the  penitent  declares  that  he 
wishes  to  wait  till  the  other  world  for  his  penance,  and  to 
suffer  in  purgatory  all  the  pangs  that  are  his  due." 

Such  were  some  of  the  ingenious  resorts  of  a  relaxed 
morality  which  Pascal  gathered  from  the  Jesuit  teachers 
and  spread  before  the  world.  Many  other  similar  maxims 
are  to  be  found  in  his  letters.  They  showed  one  phase 
of  the  policy  of  the  great  order,  which  sought  to  exert  its 
influence  over  all  society,  and  ministered  alike  to  the  saint 
and  the  sinner.  It  was  the  code  under  which  a  politic 
confessor  could  absolve  a  king  confessing  his  amours, 
abandoned  an  hour  before,  to  be  resumed  an  hour  later; 
could  tell  the  plunderer  and  the  defrauder  that  he  must  do 
penance  for  his  crime,  but  no  law  required  the  only  penance 
he  feared — the  restoration  of  his  illegal  gains;  that  told 
the  gentleman  he  might  fight  a  duel  with  right  intentions, 
and  not  suffer  the  ban  of  the  church ;  which  made  the 
Jesuits  the  confessors,  the  spiritual,  and  often  the  tem- 
poral directors  of  the  most  of  those  who  held  power,  and 
wealth,  and  place  in  the  world. 


THE  PORT  ROYAL.  489 

The  society  was  not  a  body  of  evil-workers,  which,  of 
choice,  inculcated  such  a  morality.  It  would  gladly  have 
had  all  those  to  whom  it  ministered  ghostly  aid  willing  to 
practise  the  morals,  as  well  as  profess  the  faith  of  Christ. 
But  if  a  large  part  of  the  world  was  resolved  to  do  evil, 
the  members  of  the  order  accepted  the  fact  as  they  found 
it. 

The  Jesuits  hardly  attempted  any  reply  to  the  Provin- 
cial Letters,  for  reply  was  impossible.  The  decline  that 
results  from  such  attacks  is  gradual.  For  a  time  the  influ- 
ence of  the  order  seemed  little  weakened.  The  Provincial 
Letters  were  placed  on  the  Index,  at  Rome,  as  tainted 
with  the  heresies  of  Jansenius.  In  1660,  they  were  pub- 
licly burned  in  Paris  by  the  common  hangman.  Jesuit 
confessors  absolved  Louis  XIV.,  and  controlled  the  policy 
of  the  end  of  his  reign.  Their  society  saw  the  Jansenists 
utterly  overthrown,  and  the  Port  Royal  a  deserted  waste. 
But,  amid  all  these  apparent  victories,  the  order  was  slowly 
meeting  the  fate  of  any  religious  body  that  tries  to  hold 
its  power  by  making  terms  with  the  mammon  of  unright- 
eousness. "  It  had,"  says  the  historian  of  the  Port  Royal, 
"  sought  to  erect  Macchiavellianism  under  the  shadow  of 
the  cross."  The  French  clergy  solemnly  repudiated  the 
relaxed  morality.  Popes  condemned  its  teachings.  The 
next  century  saw  the  Jesuits  expelled  from  France,  and, 
at  last,  the  Papacy  itself  dissolved  the  great  order  of  the 
followers  of  Ignatius  Loyola. 

It  was,  indeed,  again  revived.  It  exists  to-day,  but  it  is 
only  the  pale  shadow  of  its  former  self,  exiled  even  from 
Catholic  countries,  reduced  in  wealth,  diminished  in  num- 
bers, hardly  possessing  historical  continuity  with  that  great 
society  which  once  checked  Protestanism,  controlled  the 
Papacy,  and  guided  the  politics  of  half  the  governments 
of  Europe. 

The  Provincial  Letters  for  a  while  diminished  the  vigor 
of  the  assaults  on  the  Port  Royal.  But  the  bull  condemn- 
ing the  Augustinus  was  accepted  by  the  great  majority  of 
the  French  clergy,  and,  in   1656,  the  General  Assembly 


490      FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

adopted  a  formulary,  which  was  to  be  signed  by  every 
ecclesiastic,  and  even  by  nuns.  It  was  in  these  words: 
"  I  submit  myself  sincerely  to  the  constitution  of  our  holy 
father,  Innocent  X.,  and  I  condemn  with  heart  and  mouth 
the  doctrine  of  the  five  propositions  of  Cornelius  Jan- 
senius,  which  the  Pope  and  the  bishops  have  condemned, 
a  doctrine  which  is  not  that  of  Saint  Augustine,  whom 
Jansenius  has  ill  explained,  and  is  contrary  to  the  true 
meaning  of  that  great  doctor."  Delay,  however,  ensued 
in  compelling  the  signature  of  this  formulary.  Not  only 
did  Pascal's  attacks  divert  the  zeal  of  the  Jesuits,  but  the 
miracles,  of  which  the  monastery  of  Port  Royal  was  the 
scene,  had  their  effect  upon  the  public  mind  as  proofs  of 
the  sanctity  of  its  inmates. 

The  most  notable  of  these  miracles  was  that  of  the  holy 
thorn,  by  which  Marguerite  Perier,  a  child  of  ten,  afflicted 
with  a  terrible  lachrymal  fistula  or  ulcer,  pressed  the  sacred 
relic  while  adoring  it,  and  was  cured  of  her  malady.  Mod- 
ern science  can  furnish  plausible  suggestions  for  the  cure 
without  the  aid  of  miraculous  healing,  and  in  our  admira- 
tion for  the  independent  spirit  and  the  piety  of  the  Port 
Royal,  we  could  wish  that  its  inmates  had  attached  less 
faith  to  miraculous  interposition  in  their  behalf.  But  a 
primitive  devotion  often  induces  a  primitive  facility  of 
belief.  Not  only  the  sisters,  but  the  recluses  found  com- 
fort in  this  and  other  like  miracles,  as  being  the  visible 
proof  of  God's  favor. 

The  miracle  of  the  thorn  occurred  during  the  publication 
of  Pascal's  letters,  and  he  used  it  with  a  sublime  rhetoric. 
He  accused  the  Jesuits  of  having  calumniated  the  faith  of 
the  nuns,  and  said :  "  While  these  holy  virgins,  night  and 
day,  adore  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  you  cease  not,  night 
and  day,  to  say  that  they  do  not  believe  his  presence  in 
the  Eucharist.  You  caluminate  those  who  have  neither 
ears  to  listen  to  you,  nor  a  mouth  with  which  to  answer ; 
but  Jesus  Christ  hears  you,  and  answers  for  them.  We 
listen  to-day  to  that  holy  and  terrible  voice,  which  astounds 
nature  and  consoles  the  church.     I  fear  that  those  who 


THE  PORT  ROYAL.  49 1 

harden  their  hearts  and  refuse,  with  obstinacy,  to  hear 
him,  when  he  speaks  as  God,  will  be  forced  to  listen  with 
terror,  when  he  speaks  to  them  as  their  judge." 

The  respite  granted  the  Port  Royal  was  brief.  In  1660 
the  schools  were  dispersed,  and  in  1661  the  formulary  was 
again  presented  for  signature.  Most  of  the  members  of 
the  monastery  refused  to  sign.  Their  reasons  were  not 
always  of  the  best.  They  were  ignorant  nuns.  They 
could  not  read  the  great  Latin  books  of  Jansenius,  nor 
discover  whether  they  contained  the  heretical  propositions. 

But  with  however  poor  logic,  they  stood  firm  in  their 
refusal.  They  were  somewhat  too  zealous  for  legal  forms, 
for  protests  and  appeals,  like  the  true  daughters  of  Parlia- 
mentary families,  as  many  of  them  were.  They  were  a 
little  too  filled  with  the  idea  that  the  persecutions  of  Dio- 
cletian were  revived  in  the  distresses  of  one  small  nunnery, 
but  they  were  always  brave,  fervent,  and  deserving  our 
sympathy. 

Their  pensionaries,  those  who  had  not  yet  assumed  the 
veil,  were  taken  away  from  them.  The  recluses  were 
scattered.  Some  of  the  sisters  were  removed.  An  inter- 
dict was  laid  on  the  Port  Royal.  The  Eucharist  was  de- 
nied them.  They  were  left  in  spiritual  hunger,  as  well  as 
in  physical  need.  Some  yielded  and  signed,  usually 
only  to  regard  themselves,  and  be  regarded  by  their  sis- 
ters, as  those  who  had  proved  recreant  to  the  faith. 
Mother  Angelique  died  in  1661,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
persecution.  Fifty-five  years  of  a  life  devoted  to  God 
did  not  deliver  her  from  a  terrible  fear  when  death  came. 
As  the  end  drew  near,  she  cried  :  "  All  that  I  have  im- 
agined is  less  than  nothing,  in  comparison  with  what  I  feel 
and  comprehend  at  this  hour."  But  at  last  she  took  cour- 
age and  hoped  for  mercy.  "  I  promise,"  she  said  to  her 
confessor,  "  I  will  no  longer  be  afraid  of  God." 

"  How  great  a  thing  it  is  to  die  in  the  hope  of  eternal 
life,"  her  sister  had  said,  as  she  was  dying  nineteen  years 
before. 

The  troubles  of  the  Jansenists  were  for  a  while  stopped 


492      FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

by  the  Peace  of  the  Church  in  1669.  Four  Jansenist 
bishops,  headed  by  the  saintly  Pavilion,  agreed  on  a 
modified  formulary,  which  they  could  sign,  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Port  Royal  followed  their  example.  The  dif- 
ference was  not  great,  but  it  sufificed.  The  interdict  was 
raised,  and  the  Port  Royal  enjoyed  ten  years  of  peace. 

It  was  during  this  time  that  it  may  be  said  to  have  be- 
come fashionable.  Mme.  de  Sabl6,  Mme.  de  Longueville, 
Mme.  de  Liancourt,  and  other  ladies  there  sought  refuge 
from  the  pomps  and  disappointments  of  the  world.  Those 
who  had  been  famous  for  gallantry  and  active  in  the  in- 
trigues  of  the  Fronde,  became,  as  Rochefoucauld  jestingly 
said,  the  mothers  of  the  church. 

They  afforded  a  worldly  protection  in  return  for  spirit- 
ual aid.  But  the  death  of  Mme.  de  Longueville  in  1679 
left  the  Port  Royal  exposed  to  the  king's  hostility,  and  a 
persecution  began  which  lasted  for  thirty  years.  On  the 
29th  of  October,  1709,  all  who  were  then  left  at  the  mon- 
astery, twenty-two  maidens,  of  whom  the  youngest  was 
fifty  and  some  were  over  eighty,  were  removed  under  the 
orders  of  the  lieutenant  of  the  police.  The  abbey  of  the 
Port  Royal  in  the  Fields  was  dissolved  by  the  decree  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  five  hundred  years  after  its 
foundation,  and  a  hundred  years  after  the  reform  of  Mother 
Angelique.  The  buildings  were  left  to  decay,  and  even 
the  bodies  buried  there  were  dug  up  and  removed.  The 
place  was  forbidden  as  a  refuge  for  the  living  or  the  dead. 


INDEX 


Academy,  French,  visited  by  Queen 
Christian,  ii.  311  ;  organized  by 
Richelieu,  436  ;  its  influence,  464. 

Accounts,  Chamber  of,  its  unsuccess- 
ful remonstrances,  ii.  228. 

Aids,  Court  of,  verifies  edict  for 
taxes,  i.  313. 

Aiguillon,  Duchess  of  :  property  left 
her  by  Richlieu,  i.  22g  ;  holds  gov- 
ernorship of  Havre,  284. 

Alexander  VII.,  Pope  Fabio  Chigi  : 
nuncio  at  MUnster,  i.  455, 477  ; 
Secretary  of  State,  ii.  163  ;  hostile 
to  Jansenism,  165  ;  made  cardinal, 
168  ;  his  conduct  in  reference  to 
Retz,  271,  272,  274  ;  sends  brief  to 
Paris,  275  ;  it  is  not  received,  276  ; 
baptizes  Queen  Christine,  309. 

Algeria,     relations    with   France,   ii. 

369- 

Alsace,  Condition  of,  i.  317  ;  ceded  to 
France,  468,  469,  478  ;  sufferings 
from  war,  403,  404, 

Amiens,  Conspiracy  of,  i.  180. 

Ancre,  Marshal  of  (see  Concini). 

Andilly,  Arnauld  d',  ii.  482. 

Angelique,  Mother  (see  Jaqueline  Ar- 
nauld). 

Angers,  Siege  of,  ii.  169. 

Anjou,  Province  of  :  submits  to  king, 
ii.  170. 

Anne  of  Austria,  Marriage  of,  i.  64  ; 
her  correspondence  with  the  Span- 
ish, 199  ;  denies  the  offence,  200  ; 
is  pardoned,  20l  ;  appointed  regent, 
249  ;  has  edict  revoked,  257,  261  ; 
retains  Mazarin,  262-264  ;  abandons 
the  Importants,  293  ;  her  letters  to 
Mazarin,  297,  298  ;  reproves  judges, 
310  ;  urged  to  make  peace,  336  ; 
her  quarrels  with  the  Parliament, 
396,  401,  405  ;  allows  union  in 
Chamber  of  St.  Louis,  407  ;  orders 
Broussel's  arrest,  426  ;  her  conduct 


towards  Retz,  431, 432  ;  leaves  Paris, 
437,  ii.  6  ;  conduct  towards  Conde, 
438  ;  wishes  right  of  arbitrary  ar- 
rest, 442  ;  her  resentment  at  Conde, 
ii.  12  ;  receives  the  Frondeurs  un- 
favorably, 40  ;  returns  to  Paris,  44  ; 
endeavors  to  leave  Paris,  107  ;  her 
disconsolate  condition,  108  ;  causes 
discord  among  leaders  of  Fronde, 
114  ;  agrees  to  call  States-General, 
116,  117  ;  her  feelings  for  Mazarin, 
126  ;  makes  terms  with  the  Fron- 
deurs, 133,  134  ;  attacks  Conde, 
135  ;  leaves  Paris,  150  ;  eagerness 
to  see  Mazarin,  156,  160  ;  desires 
Louis'  raarrij^e  with  Maria  Theresa, 

319.  323- 
Annese,  Gennaro,   i.  363,    364,    365, 

366,  369. 
Army,     Bad    condition    of    French, 

i.    181-183,   338  ;    cost    of,   under 

Richelieu,  212  ;  license  of,  275,  ii. 

183, 184  ;  size  and  condition  of,  362, 

363. 

Arnauld,  Antoine,  his  writings,  ii.  480, 
484. 

Arnauld,  Jacqueline,  Abbess  of  Port 
Royal,  ii.  472,  473  ;  her  zeal,  474, 
475  ;  her  death,  491. 

Arnoux,  Father,  Louis'  confessor, 
i.  87. 

Arras,  City  of,  captured  by  the 
French,  i.  208  ;  besieged  by  the 
Spanish,  256,  257  ;  the  siege  raised, 
258  ;  importance  of  this,  259. 

Artois,  Province  of,  ceded  to  France, 
ii.  332- 

Augustinus,  The.  ii.  477,  478,  479. 

Avaux,  Count  of,  made  superintend- 
ent, i.  283  ;  makes  peace  between 
Sweden  and  Denmark,  319 ;  am- 
bassador at  Mtinster,  456  ;  his 
Catholic  zeal,  457,  474  ;  disgraced, 
475- 


493 


494       FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


Ballets,  ii.  433,  434,  435. 

Balzac,  ii.  463,  464. 

Banier,  General,  i.  452,  453. 

Barberini,  Cardinal  Antonio  :  ap- 
pointed legate,  i.  237  ;  his  corrup- 
tion, 340  ;  protector  of  France  at 
Rome,  341  ;  abandons  the  French, 
342  ;  is  prosecuted,  344,  ii.  269 ; 
supports  Chigi,  270. 

Barbin,  receives  office  from  Concini, 
i.  73  ;  thrown  in  bastille,  79. 

Barillon,  President,  is  arrested,  i.  310. 

Barley,  Price  of,  ii.  389. 

Barricades,  at  Paris,  i.  433-435. 

Bartholomew,  Massacre  of  Saint,  in- 
jures Protestant  cause,  i.  6. 

Bassompierre,  Marshal  of  :  his  favor 
with  Louis,  i.  93  ;  his  insubordina- 
tion, 124  ;  his  arrest,  137  ;  released 
from  imprisonment,  245  ;  extrava- 
gance of,  ii.  414,  415,  416. 

Bastille,  The  treasure  in,  i.  15,  24  ; 
capture  of,  ii.  16  ;  is  surrendered  to 
the  king,  215. 

Bavaria,  invaded  by  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus,  i.  164  ;  pillaged,  323,  474, 
475  ;  obtains  Upper  Palatinate,  479. 

Bavaria,  Duke  of  (see  Maximilian). 

Bavaria,  Elector  of,  declines  being 
candidate  for  emperor,  ii.  314. 

Beam,  Province  of :  condition  of 
church  there,  i.  85  ;  Catholics  re- 
stored, 86,  88. 

Beaufort,  Duke  of,  quarrels  with 
Conde,  i.  253  ;  his  character,  256  ; 
plans  to  murder  Mazarin,  291  ;  is 
arrested,  292  ;  escape  of,  407  ;  re- 
turns to  Paris,  ii.  16  ;  his  popularity 
there,  41  ;  accused  before  Parlia- 
ment, 56  ;  promised  the  admiralty, 
70  ;  commands  Orleans'  army,  171  ; 
quarrels  with  Nemour,  174  ;  ex- 
cites the  mob  of  Paris,  181,  187  ; 
stops  massacre  at  Hotel  de  Ville, 
198  ;  his  duel  with  Nemour,  201  ; 
resigns  his  position,  212  ;  is  ban- 
ished, 214. 

Beauvais,  Bishop  of,  leader  of  the 
Importants,  i.  256  ;  active  with  Par- 
liament, 259-261  ;  made  minister, 
282  ;  sent  to  his  diocese,  293. 

Beck,  General,  i.  423,424  ;  his  charac- 
ter, 426  ;  is  arrested,  427. 

Bed  of  Justice,  i.  310,  311,  394  ;  ii. 
227,  228,  278. 

Bellegarde,  Duke  of.  Governor  of  Bur- 
gundy, i.  72  ;  uses  magic  mirror 
against  Concini,  72. 

Belli^vre,  President,  ii.  280-282. 


Bibliotheque  Royale.  ii.  437,  443. 

Blancmenil,  President,  i.  403  ;  is  ar^ 
rested,  427. 

Bleneau,  Battle  of,  ii.  175. 

Blois,  Chateau  of,  Mary  de  Medici 
confined  there,  i.  81. 

Bohemia,  Troubles  in,  i.  147  ;  forced 
conversions  in,  149,  151. 

Boileau,  ii.  462,  464,  465. 

Bois  de  Boulogne,  ii.  446. 

Bonneval,  deputy  of  the  nobility, 
beats  plebeian  deputy,  i.  51. 

Bordeaux,  City  of,  receives  Princess  of 
Conde,  ii.  74  ;  besieged  by  the 
king,  76  ;  makes  peace,  79,  80 ; 
condition  of  parties  in,  232  ;  revo- 
lutionary sentiments  in,  233  ;  con- 
tests in  the  city,  235  ;  desires  peace, 
23S  ;  sends  envoys  to  England,  239  ; 
besieged  by  the  king,  243  ;  makes 
peace,  244  ;  terms  granted  it,  245. 

Bordeaux,  minister  to  England,  his 
negotiations  with  Cromwell,  ii.  289- 
292,  298. 

Bouillon,  Duke  of,  his  character,  i. 
65  ;  joins  in  Soissons'  resurrection, 
209  ;  intrigues  with  Cinq  Mars, 
217  ;  makes  treaty  with  Spain,  218  ; 
is  arrested,  222  ;  is  pardoned,  226 ; 
joins  the  Fronde,  ii.  12  ;  opposes 
peace,  27  ;  his  demands,  34  ;  en- 
gaged in  rebellion  at  Bordeaux,  79, 
80  ;  refuses  to  assist  Conde,  148. 

Bourbon,  Hall  of,  opened  for  States- 
General,  i.  42. 

Bouteville,   executed   for   duelling,  i. 

Bouthillier,  member  of  council,  i.  247  ; 
appointed  member  of  council,  249  ; 
dismissed,  283. 

Braganza,  Duke  of  (see  John  IV.). 

Brandenburg,  Elector  of,  one  of  pos- 
sessory princes,  i.  19 ;  joins  Gus- 
tavus Adolphus,  i6i  ;  acquires 
Pomerania,  174  ;  strengthened  by 
treaty  of  Westphalia,  478,  479. 

Bread,  quality  of.  furnished  to  soldiers, 
ii.  15  ;  price  and  quality  of,  390,  391. 

Breitenfeld,  Battle  of,  i.  162. 

Bremen  annexed  to  Sweden,  i.  478. 

Breze,  Duke  of,  his  victory  at  Cartha- 
gena,  i.  279  ;  commands  expedition 
to  Italy,  347  ;  is  killed,  348. 

Bribery,  prevalence  of,  ii.  425,  426. 

Brienne,  Count  of,  made  Secretary  of 
Slate,  i.  283 

Brienne,  Mme.  de,  her  conversation 
with  the  queen  about  Mazarin,  i. 
296,  297. 


INDEX. 


495 


Brisach  ceded  to  France,  i.  468. 

Broussel,  his  remarks  in  Parliament, 
i.  418  ;  returns  to  the  Parliament, 
435  ;  opposes  peace  of  Ruel,  ii.  29  ; 
his  lack  of  ability,  30  ;  accused  be- 
fore Parliament,  56 ;  countenances 
violences  of  mob,  189  ;  chosen  pro- 
vost of  merchants,  199  ;  resigns  his 
position,  210;  is  banished  from 
Paris,    214  ;    his  popularity    gone, 

215- 
Brun,  Dutch  minister,  i.  458. 
Buckingham,  Duke  of,  relations  with 

Anne  of  Austria,  i.   lOO  ;  repulsed 

at  Fort  St.  Martin,  120. 
Bufalini,  Ortensia,  mother  of  Mazarin, 

i.  233. 
Butchers,  Tax  upon,  ii.  251. 

Cabs,  Public,  first  used,  ii.  446,  447. 

Canada,  trade  with,  i.  112  ;  coloniza- 
tion in,  ii.  369. 

Candale,  Duke  of,  ii.  48  ;  general  in 
Guienne,  236,  237  ;  enters  Bor- 
deaux, 245. 

Cardinals,  edict  against  their  holding 
office,  ii.  1 18-120. 

Carmelites,  Convent  of,  in  Faubourg 
St.  Jacques,  i.  290. 

Carnets  of  Mazarin,  nature  of,  i.  272  ; 
extracts  from,  286-288, 

Carre,  Father,  agent  for  Richelieu 
with  Mile.  Lafayette,  i.  195. 

Carriages,  Use  of,  ii.  446. 

Casal,  its  siege  and  relief,  i.  129  ;  its 
second  siege,  207  ;  treaty  made  at, 
239  ;  captured  by  the  Spanish,  ii. 
224. 

Castelnau,  ii.  282. 

Castelnauduf,  Battle  of,  i,  140. 

Castles,  Destruction  of,  i.  no. 

Catalonia,  Province  of,  description  of, 
i.  205  ;  revolts  against  Spain  and  is 
annexed  to  France,  206  ;  resists  the 
Spanish,  ii.  44 ;  conquered  by  the 
Spanish,  224-226 ;  campaigns  in, 
284  ;  yielded  to  Spain,  332. 

Caussin,  Father.  Louis  XII I. 's  con- 
fessor, i.  196  ;  his  conversations 
with  the  king,  197  ;  is  dismissed, 
199. 

Cerdagne,  County  of,  annexed  to 
France,  i.  206. 

Chabot,  Rohan,  Duke  of,  ii.  i6g,  170 ; 
leaves  Paris,  212. 

Chalais,  Count  of,  conspiracy  of,  i. 
116;  execution  of,  117. 

Chamber  of  Justice,  appointed  by 
Richelieu,  i.  107  ;  demanded.  412  ; 


granted,  417  ;  amounts  recovered  by 
it,  ii.  361. 

Charles  I.  of  England  marries  Henri- 
ette  of  France,  i.  lOO. 

Charles  II.  of  England  required  to 
leave  France,  ii.  294,  297  ;  ally  of 
Spain,  305  ;  asks  for  assistance,  330. 

Charles  Gustavus  of  Sweden,  ii.  345. 

Charlevoix  seizes  Brisach,  ii,  232  ;  ar- 
rested, 233  ;  terms  made  with  him, 
249. 

Chamace,  Count  of,  arranges  truce  for 
Sweden,  i.  156. 

Charrier,  Abbe  of,  Retz's  agent  at 
Rome,  ii.  161  ;  his  conduct  there, 
163-167, 

Chassebras,  Cure  of  the  Madeleine, 
vicar  for  Retz,  ii.  273,  274. 

Chateauneuf,  Marquis  of,  released 
from  prison,  i.  281  ;  not  restored  to 
office,  287,  288  ;  sent  from  Paris, 
439  ;  restored  to  the  ministry,  ii. 
69  ;  is  removed,  121  ;  made  first 
minister,  144 ;  opposed  to  Mazarin, 
156  ;  retires  to  Tours,  161  ;  his 
death,  214. 

Chatillon,  Mme.  de,  lady-love  of 
Conde,  ii.  145  ;  advises  peace,  179  ; 
banished  from  Paris,  214  ;  her  rela- 
tions with  Hocquincourt,  283,  284. 

Chatre,  La,  colonel  of  Swiss  guards,  i. 
282. 

Chatre,  Marshal  de  la,  marches  to 
Juliers,  i,  18,  19. 

Chavigni,  member  of  council,  i.  247— 
249  ;  loses  Mazarin's  favor,  283  ; 
arrested,  439  ;  recalled  to  office,  ii. 
120 ;  disgraced,  145  ;  his  death,  208. 

Chevalier,  ii.  237, 

Chevreuse,  Duchess  of,  begins  her  in- 
trigues, i.  115  ;  sent  into  exile,  117  ; 
edict  against  her  recall,  250  ;  returns 
from  Brussels,  281 ;  her  relations 
with  the  queen,  282  ;  given  200,000 
livres,  282  ;  attacks  Richelieu's  fam- 
ily, 284  ;  loses  Anne's  favor  and  re- 
tires, 294  ;  friendly  with  court,  ii. 
59  ;  negotiates  for  Retz,  91  ;  allies 
herself  with  Mazarin,  128,  133. 

Chevreuse,  Mile,  de,  relations  with 
Retz,  ii.  60  ;  to  be  married  to  Conti, 
100;  engagement  is  broken,  124: 
is  to  marry  Mazarin's  nephew,  134  ; 
dies,  135. 

Chigi,  Fabio,  cardinal,  nuncio  at 
MQnster,  i.  457,  458  ;  opposed  by 
Mazarin,  ii.,  268  ;  his  conduct  at 
the  conclave,  270 ;  elected  Pope, 
270.     (See  Alexander  VII.) 


40 


FRANCE  UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


Chocolate,  its  use,  ii.,  431. 

Christian  IV.  of  Denmark  takes  part  in 
Thirty  Years'  War,  i.  155  ;  negoti- 
ates preliminary  treaty  of  peace,  455. 

Christine,  Queen  of  Sweden,  ii.  307  ; 
her  eccentricities,  308  ;  visits  France, 
309  ;  guilty  of  murder,  310  ;  leaves 
France,  311. 

Cinq  Mars,  becomes  favorite  of  Louis 
XIII.,  i.  213  ;  his  quarrels  with  the 
king,  215  ;  makes  a  treaty  with 
Spain,  218  ;  tries  to  overthrow 
Richelieu,  219  ;  hopes  to  marry 
Mary  of  Mantua,  221  ;  is  arrested, 
222  ;  his  trial  and  execution,  226. 

Cities,  Indebtedness  of,  ii.  394,  395. 

Clergy,  position  in  States-General,  i. 
32  ;  delegates  from,  41  ;  less  Galil- 
ean than  under  Louis  XIV.,  48  ; 
poverty  of  lower  clergy,  57  ;  cahiers 
of,  58  ;  Huguenot  clergy,  87  ;  quar- 
rel with  the  Parliament,  ii.  118,  119  ; 
present  petitions  for  Retz,  218,  219  ; 
defend  his  position,  262,  263  ;  ob- 
ject to  his  trial  before  Parliament, 
265  ;  their  offices  sold,  424  ;  fees 
allowed,  455  ;  religious  condition 
of,  470,  471- 

Cleves,  Duke  of,  his  possessions  left 
to  many  heirs,  i.  7,  19. 

Cluny,  Hotel  de,  residence  of  the 
nuncios,  i.  240. 

Coffee,  little  used,  ii.  431,  432. 

Colbert,  Jean  Baptiste,  criticises  Em- 
eri's  policy,  i.  308,  309  ;  made  su- 
perintendent for  Mazarin,  ii.  249  ; 
his  management  of  Mazarin's  prop- 
erty, 250  ;  his  demands  for  himself, 
251  ;  complaints  of  Fouquet,  335, 
342  ;  improvements  under,  448. 

Coligny,  Maurice  de,  his  duel  with 
Guise,  i.  299,  300. 

Cologne,  chosen  place  for  conference, 
i.  183,  451. 

Colonna,  Constable,  employs  Maza- 
rin's father,  i.  232  ;  marries  Marie 
Mancini,  ii.  352. 

Commerce,  condition  of,  ii.  365-369.' 

Concini,  Concino,  Marshal  of  Ancre, 
early  career,  i.  12  ;  marries  Leonora 
Galigni,  13  ;  offices  and  money 
given  him,  25  ;  surrenders  Amiens, 
67  ;  his  wealth  and  fame,  71  ;  as- 
sassinated, 78  ;  remains  torn  from 
grave,  79. 

Concini.  Leonora,  favorite  of  Mary  de 
Medici,  i.  12  ;  marries  Concino  Con- 
cini, 13  ;  executed  for  treason  and 
magic.  14. 


Conde,  Henry,  Prince  of,  wealth  and) 
influence  of,  i.  21  ;  returns  to  Paris, 
24  ;  leads  a  revolt,  27  ;  makes  peace, 
28  ;  leads  another  revolt,  63  ;  makes 
peace,  67  ;  his  power,  68  ;  his  arrest, 
70  ;  amounts  paid  him,  76  ;  leads 
the  army  against  the  Huguenots, 
127  ;  invades  Franche  Comte,  177  ; 
defeated  at  Fontarabia,  185  ;  ap- 
pointed member  of  council,  249  ; 
quarrels  with  Beaufort,  253  ;  presi- 
dent of  council,  261. 

Conde,  Louis,  Prince  of,  marries 
Richelieu's  niece,  i.  212  ;  his  edu- 
cation, 265  ;  his  appearance,  266  ; 
receives  command  of  army,  267  ; 
leads  French  at  Rocroi,  268-270  ; 
returns  to  Paris,  273  ;  captures 
Thionville,  273  ;  joins  Guebriant, 
274  ;  receives  Chantilly,  282  ;  his 
victory  at  Freiburg,  315-317  : 
marches  into  Germany,  320  ;  vic- 
tory at  Nordlingen,  321  ;  captures 
Dunkirk,  329  ;  declines  going  to 
Naples,  357  ;  defeated  at  Lerida, 
378  ;  wins  the  battle  of  Lens,  422  ; 
returns  to  Paris,  437,  438  ;  takes 
part  in  conference,  442  ;  defeats 
Frondeurs  at  Charenton,  ii.  18  ; 
his  unpopularity  at  Paris,  40  ;  his 
followers,  45  ;  quarrels  with  Maza- 
rin, 49;  terms  granted  him,  50; 
pretended  assault  upon,  55  ;  arrest 
of,  65  ;  imprisoned  at  Havre,  88  ; 
released,  109  ;  returns  to  Paris, 
no  ;  quarrels  with  Frondeurs,  123  ; 
abandons  Mole,  125  ;  made  gover- 
nor of  Guienne,  125  ;  goes  to  St. 
Maur,  130  ;  quarrels  with  regent, 
132-135  ;  disturbances  with  Retz, 
137  ;  edict  in  favor  of,  139  ;  retires 
to  Frie.  145 ;  again  in  rebellion, 
146  :  makes  treaty  with  Spain,  147  ; 
is  unsuccessful,  150  ;  opposes  Reiz's 
elevation,  165  ;  makes  treaty  with 
Orleans,  168  ;  leaves  Guienne,  170; 
successful  at  Bleneau,  175  ;  enters 
Paris,  176  ;  negotiates  for  peace, 
180  ;  curries  favor  with  the  popu- 
lace, 181,  186  ;  captures  St.  Denis, 
182;  bravery  at  battle  of  Faubourg 
St.  Antoine,  190-194  ;  conduct  at 
massacre  of  Hotel  de  Ville,  195, 
196,  198,  199  ;  demands  exorbitant 
terms  of  peace,  209 ;  joins  the 
Spanish,  211  ;  responsible  for  loss 
of  Catalonia,  225  ,  commands  the 
enemy  in  Champagne,  226 ;  ad- 
proves    of    Ormee,    235  ;    neglects 


INDEX. 


497 


Guienne,  239  ;  sends  envoys  to  Eng- 
land, 239  ;  favors  Huguenots,  243  ; 
commands  Spanish  army,  246,  247  ; 
condemned  for  high  treason,  252  ; 
discontented  with  Spanish,  253  ; 
besieges)  Arras,  256  ;  quarrels  with 
Turenne,  282  ;  his  praise  of  Crom- 
well, 295  ;  his  victory  at  Valen- 
ciennes, 299,  300  ;  his  conduct  at 
battle  of  Dunes,  305  ;  abandoned 
by  Pimentel,  322  ;  negotiations  con- 
cerning, 327  ;  terms  granted,  328  ; 
becomes  a  courtier,  344. 

Conde,  Princess  of,  quarrels  with 
Mme.  de  Montbazon,  i.  291  ;  asks 
release  of  her  son,  li.  72  ;  her  death, 
96 

Conde,  Claire  Clemence,  Princess  of, 
takes  up  arms  fur  her  husband,  ii. 
72  ;  received  at  Bordeaux,  74  ; 
makes  terms,  80. 

Constable,  Office  of,  its  holders,  i.  94  ; 
is  abolished,  95. 

Conterini,  mediator  at  MUnster,  i.  458. 

Conti,  Prince  of,  affection  for  his  sis- 
ter, ii,  11;  declared  generalissimo, 
12  ;  introduces  Spanish  envoy,  20  ; 
his  lack  of  courage,  32  ;  arrest  of, 
65  ;  released,  109  ;  his  engagement 
with  Mile,  de  Chevreuse,  123,  124  ; 
joins  the  Ormee,  236  ;  makes  terms 
with  the  king,  243.  244  ;  marries 
Mazarin's  niece,  252  ;  commands 
in  Catalonia,  284. 

Copyright,  ii.  437. 

Corneille,  Pierre,  patronized  by  Fou- 
quet,  ii.  340  ;  by  Richelieu,  435  ; 
his  dramas,  466,  467. 

Counterfeiters,  ii.  454. 

Cours  la  Reine,  ii.  445,  446. 

Cromwell,  Protector,  negotiates  with 
Condi  and  Bordeaux,  ii.  239,  240, 
241  ;  his  negotiations  with  France 
and  Spain,  287-293  ;  his  letters  to 
Mazarin,  289,  291  ;  dismisses  French 
envoy,  293  ;  demands  that  the 
Stuarts  shall  leave  France,  294  ; 
interferes  for  the  Vaudois,  296  ; 
sends  ambassador  to  France,  298  ; 
allies  himself  with  Mazarin,  297, 
301  ;  complains  of  the  French,  303. 

Croquants,  i.  304,  306. 

Dancing,  ii.  421. 

Daugnon,  Count  of,  endeavors  to  be- 
tray La  Rochelle,  it.  150  ;  Conde 
wishes  him  made  marshal,  309  ;  de- 
serts Conde,  238,  239. 

Day  of  the  Dupes,  i.  135. 


Descartes,  Rene,  visits  Christine  of 
Sweden,  ii.  308  ;  his  writings,  466. 

De  Thou,  friend  of  Cinq  Mars,  i. 
217  ;  negotiates  for  peace,  219;  is 
arrested,  222  ;  carried  to  Lyons, 
225  ;  executed,  226. 

Devereux,  Captain,  murders  Wallen- 
stein,  i.  178. 

Dinner,  Hours  for,  ii.  430  ;  luxury  at, 

430,  431. 
Doctors,  Fees  of,  ii.  429. 
Dress,  Richness  of,  ii.   140 ;  Spanish 

dress,   335  ;    cost  of,  415,  416 ;   of 

judges,  428. 
Duelhng,  Frequency  of,  i.  114;  ii.  419. 
Dunes,  Battle  of,  ii.  305,  306. 
Dunkirk,   City  of,   description  of,  i. 

327  ;   siege   of,  329  ;    captured  by 

Spanish,   ii.    223  ;    besieged,   304 ; 

surrendered  to  the  English,  306. 
Du  Plessis,  Marshal  of,  his  victory  at 

Rethel,  ii.  93. 
Duretete,    leader  of   Ormee,  ii.   234, 

238  ;  favors  Spain,  241  ;  executed, 

245. 
Dathlingen,  Defeat  of  the  French  at, 
i.  276. 

Edict  of  restitution,  i.  151. 

Education,  neglect  of,  ii.  392,  421  ; 
at  Port  Royal,  483,  484. 

Elboeuf,  Duke  of,  general-in-chief  of 
Fronde,  ii.  10. 

Electors  of  Germany,  corruption 
among,  ii.  279,  280. 

Emeri,  controller,  i.  302  ;  revives  old 
taxes,  307 ;  his  injudicious  meas- 
ures, 308 ;  removed  from  office, 
416  ;  returns  to  office,  ii.  53. 

Empire,  The,  how  affected  by  treaty  of 
Westphalia,  i.  479,  482  ;  by  League 
of  the  Rhine,  ii.  316,  317. 

Enghien,  Duke  of  (see  Louis,  Prince 
of  Conde). 

England,  declares  war  with  France,  i. 
118;  treaty  made,  130;  captures 
French  ships,  ii.  223  ;  treatment  by 
other  governments,  286  ;  power  on 
the  sea,  288,  290  ;  influence  in 
Europe,  296  ;  makes  treaty  with 
France,  297,  301  ;  declares  war  on 
Spain,  298  ;  diminished  influence  of, 
330. 

Epemon,  Jean  Louis,  Duke  of,  ac- 
cused of  Henry  IV. 's  murder,  i.  13, 
14  ;  governor  of  Metz,  24  ;  rescues 
soldiers  from  prison,  49  ;  quarrels 
with  Parliament,  50  ;  amounts  paid 
him,  76. 


498       FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


Epemon,  Duke  of,  (son  of  the  above,) 
his  tyranny  in  Guienne,  ii.  36  ;  his 
unpopularity  there,  73  ;  leaves  the 
province,  77. 

Estrades,  Marquis  of,  his  negotia- 
tions in  Holland,  i.  333. 

L'Etat  c'est  moi ;  origin  of  this  saying, 
ii.  279,  280. 

Eugene,  Prince  of  Savoy,  son  of 
Olympe  Mancini,  ii.  352. 

Faubourg  St.  Antoine,  Battle  of,  ii. 
189-T94. 

Ferdinand  II.,  elected  king  of  Bo- 
hemia, i.  146  ;  chosen  emperor,  147  ; 
his  persecutions,  148  ;  conquers 
Bohemia,  149 ;  publishes  edict  of 
restitution,  151  ;  his  plans,  152  ; 
recalls  Wallenstein,  165  ;  his  death, 
174. 

Ferdinand  III.,  emperor,  narrowly 
escapes  capture,  i.  453 ;  ratifies 
preliminary  treaty,  455  ;  terms  pro- 
posed by  him  at  Mtlnster,  460,  461, 
464;  his  death,  ii.  311. 

Ferro,  Luigi  del,  i.  364. 

Filhot,  ii.  237,  238. 

Finances,  condition  of,  under  Sully, 
i.  51  ;  statement  of,  in  1614,  52-54  ; 
amount  of  pensions,  76  ;  condition 
of,  under  Richelieu,  301-307,  392  ; 
payments  i  comptant,  413  ;  public 
bankruptcy,  416,  417  ;  condition  of, 
in  1648,  443  ;  regulation  of,  444, 
445  ;  depreciation  of  coinage,  i. 
300,  301  ;  disorders  in  ;  336,  337  ; 
inefficient  system,  359-362  ;  cost  of 
collecting  taxes,  379,  380  ;  amount 
of  debt,  380  ;  sale  of  offices,  381. 

Financiers,  wealth  of,  ii.  361  ;  gains 
of,  379.  380. 

Fontaine,  or  Fuentes,  Count  of,  his 
bravery  at  Rocroi,  i.  270. 

Fontarabia,  Siege  of,  i.  184. 

Fontrailles,  negotiates  a  treaty  with 
Spain,  i.  217  ;  leaves  France,  221. 

Fort  St.  Louis,  agreement  for  its  des- 
truction is  not  executed,  i.  105. 

Fouquet,  Nicholas,  made  procureur- 
general,  ii.  91  ;  made  superintendent 
of  finance,  230  ;  his  ability,  335  ; 
corruption,  336,  338  ;  wealth,  338  ; 
prodigality,  339  ;  patronizes  art, 
340  ;    his   plots,    341  ;    overthrow, 

343. 
France,  government  of,  i.   1-5  ;  con- 
dition  under  Henry  IV.,   26,   27  ; 
different  provinces  of,  35  ;  expenses 
and  revenues  under  Richelieu,  iii  ; 


makes  treaty  with  Sweden,  156 ; 
takes  part  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
168  ;    declares  war  against    Spain, 

174  ;    makes  treaty  with   Holland, 

175  ;  relief  at  Richelieu's  death, 
229  ;  oppression  from  taxes,  303  ; 
does  not  wish  too  great  success  in 
Germany,  324  ;  desires  Low  Coun- 
tries, 331  ;  influence  in  Italy,  349 ; 
bankruptcy  of,  416  ;  character  of 
war  with  Spain,  449  ;  terms  de- 
manded at  Mtinster,  461-463,  465  ; 
joy  at  the  cession  of  Alsace,  469  ; 
identified  with  empire  of  Charle- 
magne, 469  ;  politics  of,  personal, 
ii.  70  ;  its  superiority  in  war,  220 ; 
losses  from  the  Fronde,  221-226  ; 
influence  in  Germany,  313,  318  ; 
gains  by  peace  of  Pyrenees,  332  ; 
influence  in  Europe,  344  ;  suffering 
from  taxation,  370  ;  condition  of 
people,  382-383,  391,  393,409,  410; 
population  of,  383,  384  ;  religious 
condition,  469. 

Franche  Comle,  invaded  by  the 
French,  i.  177  ;  condition  of,  318. 

Frederick  V.,  Elector  Palatine,  elect- 
ed king  of  Bohemia,  i.  148 ;  de- 
feated at  Weissenberg,  149 ;  driven 
from  the  Palatinate,  150. 

Freiburg,  Battle  of,  i.  315-317. 

Frequent  Communion,  The,  ii.  480. 

Friedlane,  Duke  of  (see  Wallenstein). 

Fronde,  name  of,  i.  ;  character  of, 
410-412  ;  reaches  open  war,  ii.  8  ; 
allied  with  Mazarin,  70  ;  its  leaders 
dissolve  their  alliance,  122-124; 
end  of  Parliamentary  Fronde,  215  ; 
injury  it  causes  to  France,  221-226  ; 
little  and  great  Fronde  at  Bordeaux, 
234  ;  last  phase  of  Fronde,  245. 

Fuensaldagne,  Count  of,  quarrels  with 
Conde,  ii.  246  ;  his  inefficiency,  247. 

Gabelle,  ii.  52  ;  nature  and  amount  of, 
i-  53>  ii-  376,  377  ;  violations  of, 
378. 

Gambling,  Prevalence  of,  ii.  417,  418. 

Gardens,  ii.  441. 

Gassion,  Marshal  of,  his  services  at 
Rocroi.  i.  268-270 ;  made  marshal, 
274  ;  subdues  insurrection  in  Nor- 
mandy, 305  ;  his  death,  338. 

Gaston  (see  Duke  of  Orleans). 

Gayant,  President,  i.  310. 

Gazette,  The,  ii.  438. 

Genoa,  invaded  by  the  French,  i.  105. 

Germany,  disordered  condition  of,  i. 
153  ;     injury    from    Thirty  Years' 


I 


INDEX. 


499 


War,  174  ;  condition  of,  during 
Thirty  Years'  War,  449-451  ;  how 
affected  by  peace  of  Westphalia, 
481-483  ;  influence  of  Spain  and 
France,  ii.  315,  317. 

Gonzagna,  Anna  of  (see  Princess 
Palatine). 

Gonzagna,  Marie,  Princess  of,  friend 
of  Cinq  Mars,  i.  221  ;  early  life, 
350  ;  marries  king  of  Poland,  352. 

Gourville,  Herault  de,  attempts  to 
kidnap  Retz,  ii.  155. 

Gramont,  Marshal  of,  his  conduct  at 
Lens,  i.  424  ;  envoy  at  German 
congress,  ii.  312  ;  his  conduct,  314, 
315  ;  goes  to  Madrid,  331. 

Gravelines,  City  of,  captured  by 
French,  i.  318  ;  captured  by  Span- 
ish, ii.  222  ;  captured  by  Turenne, 
306  ;  annexed  to  France,  332. 

Grisons,  their  relations  with  France, 
i.  104;  abandoned  by  Richelieu,  107. 

Guebriant,  Marshal  of,  his  victories 
in  Saxony,  i.  227  ;  his  death  and 
character,  275. 

Guienne,  Province  of,  discontents  in, 
•'•  36.  73  ;  sufferings  of,  3S  ;  joins 
Conde,  147  ;  mostly  lost  by  insur- 
gents, 238  ;  offers  free  trade  to 
England,  239 ;  plan  for  a  republic 
in,  242  ;  becomes  peaceful,  245  ; 
condition  of,  during  Fronde,  406, 
407. 

Guise,  Henry,  Duke  of,  his  duel  with 
Coligny,  i.  299,  300  ;  his  character, 
358,  359  ;  goes  to  Naples,  361  ;  his 
reception,  362  ;  made  generalissimo, 
365  ;  his  conduct,  366,  367  ;  re- 
ceives no  aid  from  France,  369  ; 
sends  love  letter,  370 ;  aristocratic 
views,  372  ;  leaves  Naples,  373  ; 
made  prisoner,  374  ;  commands  ex- 
pedition against  Naples,  ii.  259, 
260 ;  quarrels  with  Mademoiselle 
de  Pons,  261  ;  expenses  of,  414. 

Guitant,  ii.  64. 

Guiton,  Mayor  of  La  Kochelle,  i.  123  ; 
his  fate,  127. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  makes  a  treaty 
with  France,  i.  156;  invades  Ger- 
many, 157  ;  his  progress  in  Ger- 
many, 160  ;  his  victory  at  Breiten- 
feld,  162  ;  conquers  most  of  Ger- 
many, 163  ;  encamps  at  Ntlrnberg, 
166  ;  is  killed  at  Lutzen,  167. 

Gustavus.  Charles,  King  of  Sweden,  ii. 
308,  311. 

Hamon,  Jean,  ii.  482. 


Harcourt,  Count  of,  his  victories  at 
Casal  and  Turin,  i.  207  ;  defeated 
at  Lerida,  377  ;  repulsed  at  Cam- 
bray,  ii.  43  ;  conveys  princes  to 
Havre,  87  ;  successful  against 
Conde,  150  ;  rebels  against  the 
government,  232,  233  ;  terms  made 
with  him,  248,  249. 

Haro,  Don  Luis  de,  chief  minister  in 
Spain,  ii.  298  ;  goes  to  Isle  of 
Pheasants,  323,  325  ;  conferences 
with  Mazarin,  326  ;  a>ks  favors  for 
Conde,  327,  328  ;  signs  peace,  332. 

Hautefort,    Mile,  de,   her  early   life, 

192  ;  her  favor  with   Louis  XHI., 

193  ;  recalled  to  Court,  282  ;  com- 
plains of  Mazarin's  favor,  294  ;  is 
dismissed,  296. 

Henriette,  Marie,  Queen  of  England, 
finds  refuge  in  France,  ii.  286  ; 
complains  of  the  acknowledgment 
of  English  republic,  289. 

Henry  the  Fourth,  influence  of  his 
death,  i.  5  ;  his  plans,  7-9  ;  charac- 
ter, 9  ;  murder  of,  9  ;  relations  with 
wife,  II,  12  ;  prosperity  under  his 
rule,  26,  27,  ii.  382. 

Hesdin,  Revolt  of,  ii.  307. 

Highways,  Condition  of,  ii.  370,  447, 
448. 

Hocquincourt,  Marshal  of,  joins  Maz- 
arin's army,  ii.  157  ;  defeated  by 
Conde,  175  ;  his  treasonable  con- 
duct, 283,  284,  307. 

Holland  (see  United  Provinces). 

L'  Hopital,  Marshal  of,  takes  part  in 
battle  of  Rocroi,  i.  267-269. 

Horses,  Price  of,  ii.  390. 

Hotel  de  Ville,  massacre  of,  ii.  195- 
199  ;  dinner  to  Mazarin,  230,  231. 

Houdancourt,  De  la  Mothe,  Marshal, 
defeated  in  Catalonia,  i.  278  ;  re- 
moved and  disgraced,  318  ;  joins 
the  Fronde,  ii.  12  ;  defeated  in 
Catalonia,   225. 

Huguenots,  join  with  Conde,  i.  65  ; 
condition  of  that  party,  83  ;  their 
assemblies,  84 ;  abandoned  by  no- 
bles, 86,  91  ;  influence  of  clergy,  87  ; 
declare  war,  88  ;  make  unfavorable 
peace,  90 ;  comparison  with  Puri- 
tans, 90 ;  failure  of  party,  92  ;  fresh 
risings  among,  105  ;  terms  granted 
them  by  Richelieu,  130;  their  treat- 
ment by  Mazarin,  274  ;  will  not  as- 
sist Conde,  ii.  149  ;  plan  for  republic, 
240,  241,  242  ;  they  remain  tran- 
quil, 243. 

Hunting,  ii.,  392,  417. 


500       FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


Import  duties,  ii.  375,  376, 

Importants,  The,  nature  of  party,  i. 
246,  255  ;  their  overthrow,  293. 

Innocent  X.,  elected  pope,  i.  343  ; 
attacks  the  Barberini,  344  ;  his  re- 
lations with  France,  346,  350  ;  ap- 
points Michel  Mazarin  cardinal, 
353 ;  denounces  treaty  of  West- 
phalia, 477  ;  his  character,  ii.  161, 
162  ;  friendly  to  Retz,  164  ;  inter- 
feres in  Retz's  behalf,  219  ;  refuses 
to  accept  Retz's  resignation,  263  ; 
befriends  him,  264,  267  ;  his  death, 
268  ;  condemns  Jansenism,  478. 

Intemperance,  in  Germany,  ii.  3r4, 
315  ;  in  France,  432. 

Interest,  Rates  of,  i.  302,  303,  417  ; 
ii.  336,  360,  444. 

Irish  regiment  at  Bordeaux,  ii.  240, 
241. 

Ithier,  Father,  ii.  237 

James  II.  of  England  (see  Duke  of 
York). 

Jansenism,  origin  of,  ii.  477  ;  five 
propositions  of,  478  ;  zeal  of,  480  ; 
condemned  by  French  clergy,  489, 
490. 

Jansenius,  Cornelius,  ii.  475,  477. 

Jardin  des  Plantes,  ii.  453. 

Jarge,  Marquis  of,  ii.  41  ;  repulsed 
by  Anne  of  Austria,  61. 

Jeannin,  President,  retires  from  office, 
i.  72  ;  restored,  78. 

Jesuits,  tenets  complained  of,  i.  13  ; 
47  ;  their  influence  over  Ferdinand 
II.,  148  ;  their  activity  in  Germany, 
150;  attack  Jansenism,  ii.  477, 
478  ;  attack  Port  Royal,  484  ; 
their  position,  485  ;  teachings,  486- 
488  ;  decline,  489. 

Jews,  petitions  against,  i.  62  ;  edicts 
against,  ii.  459,  460. 

John  IV.  declared  king  of  Portugal, 
i.  205. 

John  of  Austria,  Don,  ii.  284  ;  his 
slothfulness,  302  ;  his  rashness,  305  ; 
his  defeat,  306. 

Joly,  Guy,  Assault  upon,  ii.  54. 

Joseph,  Father,  conduct  at  Ratisbon, 
i.,  158  ;  disavowed  by  Richelieu, 
159  ;  his  death,  202. 

Judiciary,  French,  nature  of,  i.  379- 
381,  385  ;  sale  of  judicial  offices, 
383  ;  becomes  hereditary  aristoc- 
racy, 384  ;  political  power  of,  387  ; 
corruption  among,  ii.  281  ;  quarrels 
for  precedence,  420  ;  prices  of  their 


offices,  424  ;  character  of,  426,  427  ; 
fees  of,  428. 
Juliers,  Capture  of,  i.  18,  19. 

King's  evil.  Touching  for,  ii.  255,  456. 
Knuyt,  Plenipotentiary  from  Holland, 
i-  334.  335- 

La  Boulaye,  Marquis  of,  ii.  55. 

La  Fayette,  Mile,  de,  her  favor  with 
Louis  XIIL,  i.  194;  retires  to  a 
convent,  196. 

Land,  Price  of,  ii.  443,  444. 

Languedoc,  Province  of,  insurrection 
in,  i.  138,  140  ;  is  mildly  treated, 
144- 

Laon,  City  of,  ii.  396  ;  suffering  dur- 
ing the  war,  398-403. 

La  Porte,  carries  letters  for  the  queen, 
i.  199  ;  confined  in  Bastille,  200  ; 
is  released,  201  ;  made  first  valet, 
282  ;  throws  letter  in  queen's  bed, 
294. 

La  Rochelle,  City  of,  position  and 
privileges  of,  i.  119  ;  besieged  by 
Richelieu,  121  ;  its  port  closed, 
122  ;  distress  at,  125  ;  its  surrender, 
126  ;  faithful  to  king,  ii.  150. 

La  Valette,  Cardinal  of,  commands 
army  in  Germany,  i.  169  ;  sent  to 
Lorraine,  177  ;  complains  of  con- 
dition of  army,  182. 

La  Valette,  Duke  of,  his  disloyal  con- 
duct, i.  185  ;  condemned  to  death, 
186. 

Law,  Different  systems  of,  in  France, 
i.  379,  381,  386. 

Lawyers,  early  become  a  separate 
class,  i.  381  ;  incomes  of,  ii.  428, 
429. 

League,  The  Catholic,  assists  Ferdi- 
nand II.,  i.  149  ;  jealous  of  Wallen- 
stein,  157. 

League  of  the  Rhine,  ii.  316,  317. 

Le  Coigneux,  ii.  188. 

Lens,  Battle  of,  i.  422,  424. 

Leopold,  Archduke,  defeated  at  Lens, 
i.  422  ;  sends  envoy  to  Parliament, 
ii.  20  ;  invades  France,  82,  84  ;  his 
successes,  222,  223. 

Leopold  I.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  his 
election,  ii.  316. 

Lerida,  City  of,  captured  by  Spanish, 
i.  318  ;  siege  of,  377,  378. 

Le  Tellier,  Michel,  appointed  to  of- 
fice, i.  247  ;  attacked  by  Mazarin 
and  Conde,  ii.  125,  126,  131  ;  re- 
moved from  office,  132  ;  restored  to 
favor,  161. 


INDEX. 


501 


Lesdigniires,  Constable  of,  restrains 
revolt,  i.  65,  89  ;  abandons  his  faith 
and  is  made  constable,  94. 

Leyde,  Marquis  of,  commands  Span- 
ish at  Dunkirk,  i.  328  ;  assists  in  its 
recapture,  ii.  223. 

Lights,  poor,  ii.  391  ;  expensive,  429. 

Lionne,  Marquis  of,  attacked  by  Maz- 
arin  and  Conde,  ii.  125,  126,  131  ; 
removed  from  office,  132  ;  envoy  to 
Rome,  266  ;  his  charges  against 
Retz,  271,  272,  274  ;  leaves  Rome, 
276 ;  endeavors  to  negotiate  peace 
at  Madrid,  299,  319  ;  envoy  to  Ger- 
many, 312  ;  draws  renunciation  for 
Maria  Theresa,  326. 

Lisieux,  Bishop  of,  i.  295. 

Literature,  Condition  of,  460-468. 

Lockhart,  English  minister  to  France, 
ii.  298  ;  commands  English  at  battle 
of  Dunes,  305. 

Longueville,  Duke  of,  his  marri^e,  i. 
290  ;  takes  part  in  conference,  442  ; 
sent  to  MUnster,  476  ;  joins  the 
Fronde,  ii.  12,  14  ;  arrest  of,  65  ; 
released,  109  ;  refuses  to  join 
Conde,  146,  149. 

Longueville,  Mme.  de,  her  beauty  and 
early  education,  i.  289  ;  marries, 
290  ;  her  journey  to  MUnster,  467  ; 
her  affection  for  Rochefoucauld,  ii. 
II  ;  lodged  at  Hotel  de  Ville,  13; 
flies  to  Normandy  and  Holland, 
67,  68  ;  conduct  at  Stenai,  81,  82  ; 
her  position  at  Paris,  iii  ;  opposes 
Conti's  marriage,  124;  desires  hos- 
tilities. 146;  favors  Nemours,  179; 
joins  the  Ormee,  236  ;  close  of  her 
career,  244  ;  protection  of  Port 
Royal,  492. 

Lorraine,  Duchy  of,  its  government, 
i.  186  ;  is  invaded,  187  ;  misery  of 
its  inhabitants,  189  ;  remains  in  pos- 
session of  the  French,  190 ;  condi- 
tion of,  317;  excluded  from  peace 
of  Westphalia,  469  ;  terms  granted, 
i>.  332,  346  ;  sufferings  from  war, 
403.  404. 

Lorraine,  Charles,  Duke  of,  joins  ene- 
mies of  Richelieu,  i.  186  ;  breaks 
his  treaty,  187  ;  becomes  soldier  of 
fortune,  188  ;  marries  Princess  of 
Contecroix,  189  ;  comes  to  Paris,  ii. 
183;  his  conduct,  184;  deserts  his 
allies,  185  ;  again  at  Paris,  206  ; 
his  unpopularity  there,  211  ;  leaves 
France,  211  ;  arrested  by  the  Span- 
ish, 248  ;  at  Isle  of  Pheasants,  332  ; 
restored  to  his  duchy,  346. 


Lorraine,  Cardinal  of,  marries  his 
cousin  and  is  declared  duke,  i.  188. 

Lorraine,  Margaret  of,  marries  Gaston, 
i.  138. 

Loudun,  Peace  of,  i.  66. 

Louis  XIIL,  becomes  king,  i.  10; 
early  years  of  reign,  20 ;  betrothal 
of,  23  ;  answers  cahiers  of  States- 
General,  58-60  ;  marriage  of,  64  ; 
taste  for  hunting,  76  ;  plans  murder 
of  Concini,  77  ;  his  military  knowl- 
edge, 89  ;  character,  97  ;  forces  the 
pass  of  Susa,  129  ;  his  illness  at 
Lyons,  133  ;  votes  for  La  Valette's 
death,  186;  invades  Lorraine,  187; 
relations  with  his  favorites,  191, 
214  ;  his  affection  for  Mile,  de 
Hautefort,  193  ;  for  Mile,  de  La 
Fayette,  196  ;  complains  of  Riche- 
lieu, 197,  198  ;  dedicates  France  to 
the  Virgin,  201  ;  his  relations  with 
Cinq  Mars,  214-216  ;  wearies  of 
Cinq  Mars,  220 ;  rejoins  Richelieu, 
223  ;  his  declaration  as  to  Cinq 
Mars,  225  ;  relief  at  Richelieu's 
death,  228 ;  announces  Mazarin  as 
minister,  230  ;  his  religious  devo- 
tion, 247  ;  declares  edict  of  regency, 
249;  his  illness,  250;  death,  251; 
character,  252  ;  funeral,  253. 

Louis  XIV.,  his  birth,  i.  201  ;  plans 
for  his  marriage  with  Maria  Theresa, 
333,  ii.  299  ;  his  majority,  139-141 ; 
his  education,  142  ;  mode  of  life, 
143  ;  leaves  Paris,  150  ;  recalls 
Mazarin,  156;  issues  edict  of  am- 
nesty, 205  ;  refuses  to  receive  dele- 
gates, 209  ;  returns  to  Paris,  2i2  ; 
his  treatment  of  Parliament,  214  ; 
orders  Retz's  arrest,  217  ;  holds 
Bed  of  Justice,  227  ;  coronation  of, 
253-255  ;  his  taste  for  war,  256 ; 
receives  surrender  of  Stenai,  257  ; 
continues  hostile  to  leaders  of 
Fronde,  277  ;  his  unceremonious 
treatment  of  Parliament,  279,  280 ; 
recognizes  English  republic,  289  ; 
visits  Queen  Christine,  310;  candi- 
date for  emperor,  312  ;  proposed 
marriage  with  Margaret  of  Savoy, 
317,  321  ;  wishes  to  marry  Marie 
Mancini,  323-325  ;  marriage  with 
Maria  Theresa,  334  ;  his  views 
about  treaties,  347. 

Louvre,  the.  Additions  to,  ii.  445. 

Luines,  Constable  of,  made  king's 
falconer,  i.  76  ;  plans  murder  of 
Concini,  77  ;  made  duke  and  be- 
comes Louis'  favorite,  81  ;  hostility 


502       FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


to  Huguenots,  87  ;  made  constable, 
92  ;  his  death,  93. 

LUtzen,  Battle  of,  i.  166. 

Luxembourg,  Marshal  of,  ii.  82,  93. 

Luxembourg,  Palace  of,  ii.  445. 

Lyons,   Conference   at,   ii.   317,   320, 

SSI- 
Mademoiselle  of  Orleans,  her  charac- 
ter and  matrimonial  plans,  ii.  172, 
173;  goes  to  Orleans,  173  ;  rescues 
the  city,  174  ;  opens  Paris  to  Con- 
de's  army,  192,  193 ;  tries  to  check 
massacre  at  Hotel  de  Ville,  198  ; 
leaves  Paris,  213  ;  income  of,  413. 

Magdeburg,  Destruction  of,  i.  161. 

Magic,  Belief  in,  i.  72. 

Maitre,  Le,  Antoine,  ii.  481. 

Majesty  letter,  granted  to  Bohemia,  i. 

147 
Maldalchini,  Olympia  (see  Olympia). 
Malherbe,  ii.  463. 
Mancini,     Hortense,    her    career,    ii. 

353-355. 

Mancini,  Laura,  ii.  46  ;  plans  for  her 
marriage,  48  ;  her  career,  351. 

Mancini,  Marie  :  her  love  affair  with 
Louis  XIV.,  ii.  323,  325  ;  her  sub- 
sequent career,  352,  353. 

Mancini,  Marie  Anne  :  her  career,  ii. 
355.  356. 

Mancini,  Olympe,  ii.  46  ;  favorite  of 
Louis  XIV.,  283  ;  her  life  and  ca- 
reer, 351,  352. 

Mancini,  Paul,  ii.  190,  191. 

Mancini,  Philip,  ii.  349,  350. 

Manicamp,  Lieutenant-General,  ii.  92. 

Mantua,  Duke  of,  established  in  his 
possessions  by  treaty,  i.  170  ;  his 
misfortunes,  236;  wins  Spain,  ii.  224; 
returns  to  French  alliance,  285. 

Manufactures,  Condition  of,  ii.  367, 
368. 

Marcel,  Stephen,  leads  a  popular  move- 
ment, i.  4 ;  States-General  under 
him,  38. 

Marchin,  Count  of,  his  treason,  ii. 
147  ;  Conde  wishes  him  made  mar- 
shal, 209  ;  commands  in  Guienne, 
232  ;  rejoins  Conde,  244. 

Mareuil,  Fontenay,  Marquis  of,  am- 
bassador at  Rome,  i.  350,  353. 

Maria  Theresa,  Infanta  of  Spain,  her 
possible  inheritance,  ii.  318  ;  her 
looks,  319,  331  ;  betrothed  to  Louis 
XIV.,  322,  326. 

Mardyck,  City  of,  captured  and  re- 
captured, i.  325,  326  ;  surrendered 
to  the  English,  ii.  304. 


Marienthal,  Defeat  at,  i.  319. 

Marillac,  Guard  of  Seals,  his  over- 
throw, i.  135  ;  his  death,  141 

Marillac,  Marshal  of,  his  arrest,  i. 
136  ;  execution  for  peculation,  141. 

Marie,  Sufferings  of,  during  the  wars, 
ii.  397-406. 

Marriages,  regulation  of,  ii.  455  ;  dis- 
solution of,  456. 

Marseilles,  condition  of,  ii.  369  ;  bad 
French  spoken  there,  440. 

Martinozzi,  Anne  Marie,  ii.  47  ;  mar- 
ries Prince  of  Conti,  252  ;  her  life 
and  character,  350. 

Martinozzi,  Laura,  marries  Prince  of 
Modena,  ii.  285  ;  her  administra- 
tration,  350,  351. 

Masaniello,  i.  355,  356. 

Masks,  worn  by  ladies,  ii.  416,  417. 

Matthias,  Emperor  of  Germany,  suc- 
ceeds to  Rudolph  I.,  146  ;  his  death, 

147- 

Maubuisson,  Abbey  of,  ii.  474,  475. 

Maximilian,  Duke  of  Bavaria,  ac- 
quires the  Palatine,  i.  150  ;  op- 
poses Wallenstein,  158  ;  negotiates 
with  France,  473  ;  makes  peace, 
474  ;  breaks  it,  475  ;  retains  his 
electorate,    479. 

Mayence,  Elector  of,  ii.  314. 

Mazarin,  Cardinal :  general  policy  of,  i. 
2-5  ;  takes  part  in  Italian  treaty, 
170  ;  succeeds  to  Richelieu,  230, 
243  ;  his  birth  and  pedigree,  232  ;  his 
early  life,  233  ;  taste  for  gambling 
234  ;  his  advenTirres~tTrSpanfr5j4  ; 
serves  as  an  officer,  235  ;  as  secre- 
tary to  the  nuncio,  235  ;  his  activity 
in  Northern  Italy,  237  ;  meets 
Richelieu,  237 ;  makes  peace  at 
Casal,  238  ;  is  not  a  priest,  239  ; 
minister  to  France,  240  ;  is  nomi- 
nated as  cardinal,  241  ;  praised  by 
Richelieu,  241  ;  made  cardinal,  242  ; 
naturalized  as  a  French  citizen,  243  ; 
desires  to  retire  to  Rome,  244  ;  ap- 
pointed member  of  council,  249 ; 
retained  in  office  by  Anne,  262  ; 
gains  her  favor,  263,  264  ;  insists  on 
siege  of  Thionville,  272  ;  his  treat- 
ment of  the  Huguenots,  274,  306  ; 
his  views  on  the  French  govern- 
ment, 280 ;  defends  Richelieu's 
memory  and  family,  284  ;  his  in- 
trigues, 285-288^  extracts  from  his 
TarnersT^SC^rfS^  plots  against  his 
life,  292  ;  his  entire  favor  with  the 
queen,  292  ;  sends  bishops  to  their 
dioceses,    295  ;    objects   to   queen's 


INDEX. 


503 


excessive  religious  devotion,  296  ; 
his  relations  with  the  queen,  297, 
298  ;  apprehensive  of  Parliament, 
311  ;  encourages  Turenne,  320  ;  de- 
sires to  annex  Spanish  Low  Coun- 
tries, 331  ;  willing  to  abandon  Cata- 
lonia, 332  ;  plans  to  marry  Louis 
XIV.  to  Infanta,  332  ;  views  about 
peace,  336  ;  anger  at  the  Barbe- 
rini,  344  ;  endeavors  to  have  his 
brother  made  cardinal,  345  ;  quar- 
rels with  Pope,  346  ;  sends  expedi- 
tions to  Italy,  347,  349  ;  joy  at  his 
brother's  promotion,  354  ;  views 
about  Naples,  356,  357,  376  ;  dis- 
trusts Guise,  360,  368,  374 ;  attacks 
upon,  406,  441,  442,  ii.  1-4,  16- 
18  ;  favors  concessions  to  Parlia- 
ment, 408  ;  his  views  about  the 
Parliament,  436  ;  objects  to  edict 
of  October,  445  ;  chosen  plenipo- 
tentiary to  Congress  at  Cologne, 
452  ;  reproves  Avaux's  Catholic 
zeal,  457  ;  claims  France  disinter- 
ested in  Germany,  465  ;  wishes 
peace  made,  476  ;  claims  to  be 
poor,  ii.  3  ;  desires  peace  with 
Fronde,  22,  33  ;  his  furniture  sold, 
19,  25  ;  visits  the  army,  44  ;  brings 
his  family  to  Paris,  46  ;  complains 
of  Conde,  58  ;  complain»-«f-French 
women,  68  j  "declares  himself  a 
Frondeur,  69  \  goes  to  Bordeaux, 
76  ;  protects  Epernon,  78  ;  hung  in 
effigy,  88  ;  his  complaints  of  Retz,  90; 
goes  to  Champagne,  92  ;  unable  to 
thwart  his  enemies,  98  ;  resolves  to 

S'eld  105  ;  leaves  Paris,  106 ;  re- 
ases  princes,  109  ;  sends  letter  to 
council,  112  ;  goes  to  Brlihl,  113  ; 
asks  Chavigni's  return,  120  ;  com- 
plains of  his  followers,  125,  126  ; 
declares  his  affection  for  regent, 
127  ;  demands  his  return,  133 ; 
edict  against,  140  ;  his  distress,  152, 
refuses  to  go  to  Rome,  153  ;  flatters 
Retz,  154 ;  raises  an  army,  155, 
156  ;  enters  France,  156  ;  his  library 
sold,  158,  159  ;  he  rejoins  the  court, 
160 ;  offended  at  Retz's  elevation, 
168  ;  witnesses  battle  of  Faubourg 
St.  Antoine,  189,  193  ;  again  retires 
from  office,  204 ;  edicts  against, 
abolished,  205  ;  intrigues  at  Paris, 
207  ;  advises  making  terms  with 
Conde,  209  ;  insists  on  Retz's  over- 
throw, 216,  217,  218  :  delays  re- 
turnimr  to  Paris,  220 ;  negotiates 
with  England,  222,  223  ;  assists  in 


campaign  in  Champagne,  227  ;  re- 
turns to  Paris,  228  ;  his  power  and 
?iopularity,  229  ;  dinner  to  hfm  at 
ToteFde  Ville7  230,  231  ;  desires  to 
marry  his  niece  to  Candale,  236  ; 
presses  on  the  campaign,  247  ;  ob- 
tains Lorraine's  army,  248  ;  takes 
several  governments,  249  ;  manage- 
ment of  property,  250 ;  conduct  at 
Arras,  258  ;  sends  Guise  to  Naples, 
260  ;  his  proceedings  against  Retz, 
265,  266,  271  ;  his  claims  as  to 
the  royal  authority,  275  ;  recalls 
Lionne,  276 ;  conciliates  Parlia- 
ment, 280,  281  ;  his  negotiations 
with  England  and  Cromwell,  285, 
286,  287,  288  ;  his  letters  to  Crom- 
well, 289,  291  ;  his  offers  for  treaty, 
292,  294  ;  conduct  as  to  the  Vau- 
dois,  296  ;  obtains  treaty  with  Eng- 
land, 297  ;  does  not  wish  an  Eng- 
lish ambassador,  298 ;  refuses  to 
grant  Conde  his  governments,  299  ; 
makes  further  treaty  with  England, 
301  ;  delays  in  carrying  out  treaty 
with  English,  303  ;  advises  battle  of 
Dunes,  305  ;  his  policy  too  lenient, 
307  ;  his  intrigues  in  Germany, 
312-316  ;  organizes  League  of  the 
Rhine,  316  ;  his  views  as  to  Spanish 
marriage,  319,  321  ;  objects  to  his 
niece  marrying  Louis,  324,  325  ; 
goes  to  Isle  of  Pheasants,  326  ;  his 
negotiations  there,  327-330  ;  indus- 
try, 331 ;  signs  peace,  332  ;  his 
views,  333,  334 ;  his  greed,  341  ; 
conduct  as  to  Fouquerr"3:;T=3q[3  I 
his  foreign  policy,  344-346  ;  health 
fails,  347  ;  death,  348  ;  Jortune, 
348  ;  wi'U^  349 ;  makes  Dukfe"^!" 
Mazarin  his  heir,  350  ;  amounts  of 
money  drawn  by  him,  362  ;  his 
palace,  442  ;  his  library,  443. 

Mazarinades,  Numbers  of,  i.  231. 

Mazarin,  Duke  of.  becomes  Mazarin's 
heir,  ii.  349,  354  ;  his  vagaries,  354, 
355-. 

Mazarin,  Michel,  intrigues  at  conclave, 
i.  344  ;  at  Rome,  345,  350  ;  made 
cardinal,  353  ;  viceroy  of  Cata- 
lonia,   354. 

Meals,  Hours  for,  ii.  429,  430. 

Meat,  price  of,  ii.  177,  390 ;  little 
eaten,    391. 

Medici,  Mary  de,  becomes  regent,  i. 

10  ;  appearance  of,    10  ;  character, 

1 1  ;  favors  Spanish  marriages,  23  ; 
luxury  under,  26  ;  orders  Conde's 
arrest,   70  ;  confined  at  Blois,   81  ; 


504       FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


escapes,  82  ;  favors  Richelieu,  96  ; 
endeavors  to  overthrow  Richelieu, 
134  ;  goes  into  exile,  137  ;  her  ill- 
ness at  Cologne  223  ;  her  death, 
224  ;  her  burial,   246. 

Meilleraie,  La,  Marshal  of,  besieges 
Perpignan,  i.  220  ;  appointed  super- 
intendent, 416  ;  presents  statement, 
443  ;  besieges  Bordeaux,  ii.  78  ; 
guards   Retz   carelessly,    264. 

Mello,  Don  Francisco  de,  commands 
the  Spanish  at  Rocroi,  i.  268. 

Menehould,  Sainte,  Peace  of,  i.  28. 

Mercoeur,  Duke  of,  to  marry  Laura 
Mancini,  ii.  48  ;  his  marriage,  230  ; 
made  governor  of  Provence,  231  ; 
his  subsequent  career,  351. 

Mercy,  General,  commands  Bavarians 
at  Freiburg,  i.  315  ;  his  victory  at 
Marienthal,  319 ;  killed  at  Nord- 
lingen,   321. 

Mesmes,  President,  opposes  the  court, 
i.  403  ;  opposes  Spanish  alliance,  ii. 
21  ;  assists  in  treaty  of  Ruel,  25,  26. 

Miossens,  Count  of,  ii.  11,  65. 

Miron,  Provost  of  Merchants,  Speech 
of,  i.  54,  55- 

Modena,  Duke  of,  becomes  ally  of 
France,  ii.  285. 

Mole,  President,  checks  the  Parlia- 
ment, i.  309  ;  complains  of  amount 
of  taxes,  398  ;  his  endeavors  for  the 
government,  420  ;  his  conduct  dur- 
ing the  barricades,  434,  435  ;  assists 
in  treaty  of  Ruel,  ii.  25  ;  his  cour- 
age, 28  ;  accusations  against,  58  ; 
presents  remonstrances  for  Conde's 
release,  99  ;  made  Guard  of  Seals, 
122  ;  is  removed,  125  ;  receives  the 
seals  again,  144  ;  quiets  a  riot,  157 

Moliere, ,  patronized  by  Fouquet, 

ii.  340  ;  plays  before  Mazarin,  347  ; 
his  successes,  435  ;  his  plays,  467. 

Monaco,  Prince  of,  places  himself  un- 
der the  protection  of  France,  i.  211. 

Monaldeschi,  Count  of,  his  murder, 
ii.  310. 

Money,  Relative  value  of,  ii.  371. 

Monsieur  (see  Duke  of  Orleans). 

Montbazon,  Mme.  de,  leader  of  Im- 
portants,  i.  289  ;  quarrels  with  the 
Condes,  290  ;  wishes  Mazarin  mur- 
dered, 291  ;  retires  from  Paris,  291  ; 
character  of,  ii.  60,  61  ;  Joins  alli- 
ance against  Mazarin,  loi  ;  banished 
from  Paris,  214. 

Montmorenci,  Duke  of,  joins  insur- 
rection under  Gaston,  i.  139  ;  taken 
prisoner,  140  ;  his  family,  142  ;  his 


power  and  popularity,  142  ;  his  trial 

and  execution,  143. 
Montpelier,  Peace  of,  i.  90. 
Moret,    Count   of,    killed   at    Castel- 

naudary,   i.    140. 
MUnster.  i.  454,  455,  477. 
Mutton,  Price  of,  ii.  390. 
Muze  Historique,  ii.  437. 

Naples,  revolt  at,  i.  355  ;  asks  Guise 
as  leader,  359,  361  ;  condition  of, 
362,  364,  371  ;  thrown  open  to  the 
Spanish,  373  ;  lost  to  the  French, 
375  ;  expedition  against,  ii.  259- 
261. 

Naples,  Paul  of,  i.  372. 

National  debt.  Amount  of,  i.  302, 
380,  381. 

Navy,  Condition  of,  i.  109  ;  ii.  364, 
365  ;  size  of  ships,  284. 

Nemours,  Duke  of,  his  conduct  as  a 
general,  ii.  171  ;  quarrels  with 
Beaufort,  174,  175  ;  severely  wound- 
ed, 191  ;  killed  in  a  duel,  20i. 

Neuburg,  Palatine  of,  one  of  Pos- 
sessory Princes,  i.  19  ;  becomes 
Catholic,  19 ;  spoken  of  for  em- 
peror, ii.  312  ;  rescues  Julius,  328. 

Nevers,  Duke  of,  becomes  Duke  of 
Mantua,  i.  129. 

Newspapers,  ii.,  437,  439. 

Nobility,  French,  struggles  against 
king,  i.  3,  4,  20 ;  character,  21  ; 
great  nobles'  vast  treasure  in  Bas- 
tille, 24  ;  position  in  States-General, 
33  ;  delegates  from,  41  ;  attack 
third  estate,  42,  45  ;  dependent  on 
pensions,  46  ;  cahiers,  58  ;  local 
power,  63  ;  pensions  paid  them,  76  ; 
enter  the  army  early,  266  ;  quarrel 
over  tabourets,  ii,  51  ;  assembly  of, 
114,  116  ;  hostile  to  Parliament, 
116  ;  do  not  hold  the  important  of- 
fices, 359  ;  violences  of,  395,  396  ; 
number  of,  411  ;  income  and  ex- 
penses of,  412-414  ;  extravagance 
of,  414,  415  ;  customs  of,  417,  419, 
420  ;  education  of,  421  ;  loss  of 
power  by,  422,  423  ;  of  robe,  427, 
428 ;  change  in  residences,  441  ; 
children  enter  the  Church,  470,  471. 

Nordlingen,  Battle  of,  i.  321. 

Normandy,  Province  of,  insurrection 
in,  i,  304,  305  ;  joins  the  Fronde, 
ii.  13  ;  disturbances  in,  35,  38  ; 
desires  quiet,  67,  71  ;  local  States 
abolished,  374  ;  proportion  of  taille, 
375  ;  suffering  in,  404,  405,  408. 

Notables,     Assembly    of     called    by 


INDEX. 


505 


Richelieu,  i.  108  ;  pay  of  members, 
III. 

Notre  Dame, Cathedral  of,  first  States- 
General  meet  there,  i.  32,  424,  425. 

Noyers,  De,  his  favor  and  disgrace,  i. 
247- 

Oats,  Price  of,  ii.  389. 

Olivarez,  Count  of,  favorite  of  Philip 
III.,  i.  99  ;  oppresses  Catalonia, 
206  ;  his  overthrow,  279. 

Olympia,  Donna,  her  influence  over 
Innocent  X.,  i.  353,  ii.  161  ;  her 
corruption,  162. 

Opera,  Italian,  ii.  433. 

Orange,  Prince  of,  commands  the 
allies,  i.  176 ;  writes  in  behalf  of 
Richelieu,  227  (note)  ;  becomes  im- 
becile, 334. 

Orange,  Princess  of,  bribed  by  the 
Spanish,  i.  334. 

Orbitello,  Expedition  to,  i.  347,  348. 

Orleans,  City  of,  rescued  by  Made- 
moiselle, ii.  172-175. 

Orleans,  Gaston,  Duke  of,  marries 
Mile.  Montpensier,  i.  117  ;  flees  to 
Lorraine,  137;  marries  Margaret  of 
Lorraine,  138  ;  leads  an  insurrec- 
tion, 139  ;  submits  to  the  king,  141  ; 
retreats  to  Brussels,  144 ;  plots 
against  Richelieu,  180 ;  intrigues 
with  Cinq  Mars,  217  ;  signs  treaty 
with  Spain,  218  ;  asks  for  pardon, 
222  ;  betrays  his  associates,  223  ; 
gives  evidence  against  Cinq  Mars 
and  De  'I'hon,  226  ;  edict  against 
his  holding  office,  248  ;  appointed 
lieutenant-general,  249,  261  ;  made 
governor  of  Languedoc,  282  ;  com- 
mands in  Low  Countries,  318, 
325  ;  takes  part  in  conference,  442  ; 
abandons  La  Riviire,  ii.  63  ;  at- 
tempts to  make  peace,  84  ;  his  ne- 
gotiations about  the  princes,  86 ; 
joins  alliance  against  ^lazarin,  loi  ; 
speaks  in  Parliament,  102  ;  asks  for 
States-General,  116,  117;  quarrels 
with  Conde,  123  ;  his  vacillations, 
135.  149  ;  joins  Conde,  168  ;  afraid 
to  relieve  Conde,  192  ;  his  conduct 
at  massacre  of  Hotel  de  Ville,  195, 
198  ;  made  lieutenant-general,  200  ; 
appoints  a  council  of  slate,  201  ; 
alarmed  at  his  position,  210-212  ; 
retires  to  Blois,  213  ;  his  despicable 

r     character,  213  ;  income  of,  413. 

Ormee,  The,  its  rise  and  character,  ii. 
234  ;  controls  Bordeaux,  235  ;  sup- 
ported by  Conde,  236  ;  violence  of. 


238  ;  opposes  peace,  240.  241  ;  its 
overthrow,  244. 

Ornann,  Marshal  of,  his  arrest,  i.  116; 
dies  in  prison,  117. 

Osnabruck,  i.  454,  455,  476,  477. 

Oxenstiern,  Chancellor,  becomes  lead- 
er of  the  allies,  i.  168. 

Oxenstiern,  Baron  of,  i.  459,  465. 

Palais  Royal,  given  by  Richelieu  to 
the  king,  i.  229. 

Palatinate,  The,  conquered  by  Ferdi- 
nand II.,  i.  150  ;  how  affected  by 
treaty  of  Westphalia,  479  ;  im- 
proved condition  of,  ii.  313. 

Palatine,  Charles,  elector,  receives 
eighth  Electorate,  i.  479  ;  in  the 
pay  of  France,  ii.  313,  315. 

Pamfili  palace,  ii.  162. 

Paris,  City  of,  election  of  deputies 
from,  i.  35,  41  ;  few  relations  with 
provinces,  59  ;  reception  of  king  at, 
64  ;  in  danger  of  capture,  179  ;  tax 
on  new  buildings,  307  ;  forced  loan 
upon,  308  ;  streets  of,  427,  ii.  447, 
448  ;  excitement  at  Broussel's 
arrest,  428  ;  condition  of,  ii.  8, 
9  ;  enthusiastic  over  king's  return, 
44  ;  in  danger  of  attack,  83  ;  weary 
of  the  Fronde,  138,  157  ;  suffering 
at,  177,  178  ;  received  Conde's 
army,  193,  194  ;  feeling  against 
Conde,  199 ;  change  of  feeling, 
207,  209 ;  asks  the  king's  return, 
210,  212  ;  population  of,  383,  384; 
changes  in,  440,  441  ;  price  of  land, 
443,  444  ;  size  of,  444 ;  robbere  in, 
448  ;  appearance  of,  449  ;  bridges, 
450. 

Parliaments,  Different  French,  i.  385. 

Parliament  of  Guienne,  quarrels  with 
Ormee,  ii.  235  ;  its  conduct  towards 
the  government,  236  ;  removed  to 
Agen,  245. 

Parliament  of  Normandy ;  punish- 
ment imposed  upon  it,  i.  305  ; 
prosecutes  for  witchcraft,  ii.  459. 

Parliament  of  Paris,  quarrels  with 
Epernon,  i.  50 ;  petitions  against 
abuses  in  state,  62-64  !  declares  re- 
gency, 257,  261  ;  claims  its  officers 
need  no  confirmation,  258  ;  protests 
against  the  Toise,  308  ;  discontent 
in,  310.  312  ;  increased  popularity, 
315  ;  its  origin,  382  ;  its  jurisdiction, 
383;  number  of  members,  386;  value 
of  officers,  386 ;  right  of  registration, 
387  ;  political  power,  389,  390 ; 
repressed  by  Richelieu,   390 ;    op- 


506       FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


poses  new  edicts,  396-398  ;  desires 
conference  in  Chamber  of  St.  Louis, 
400,  404,  405  ;  its  part  in  the 
Fronde,  410,  411  ;  considers  reso- 
lutions of  Chamber  of  St.  Louis, 
415  ;  further  demands  of,  418, 
420  ;  its  conduct  during  the  barri- 
cades, 433-435  ;  foregoes  its  vaca- 
tion, 436 ;  asks  for  conference, 
440 ;  demands  for  reformation, 
442-444  ;  its  success,  447  ;  its  in- 
fluence in  the  Fronde,  ii.  8  ;  acts 
as  executive  body,  15  ;  issues  proc- 
lamation against  Mazarin,  17  ;  con- 
fiscates property,  19  ;  receives  envoy 
from  Spain,  20  ;  sends  deputies  to 
Ruel,  22  ;  negotiates  for  Bordeaux, 
75 1  77.  79  ;  demands  Conde's 
release,  97,  98  ;  compared  to  Eng- 
lish Parliament,  103  ;  demands 
Mazarin's  retirement,  104  ;  reso- 
lution against  Mazarin,  107  ;  op- 
posed to  States-General,  115  ;  adopts 
edict  against  cardinals,  1 18-120  ; 
registers  edict  against  Conde, 
157  ;  puts  price  on  Mazarin's 
head  and  sells  his  library,  158, 
159  ;  vacillates  in  policy,  178,  181  ; 
disturbed  by  the  mob,  187,  189  ; 
calls  general  assembly,  195  ;  many 
judges  leave  Paris,  199  ;  chooses 
Orleans  as  lieutenant-general,  200  ; 
its  edicts  revoked,  205  ;  its  power 
restricted,  214,  215,  228  ;  opposes 
stamp  duty,  279  ;  their  opposition 
overcome,  281  ;  opposes  deprecia- 
tion of  coinage,  300,  301. 

Parliament  of  Provence,  Discontents 
in,  ii.  36. 

Pascal,  Blaise,  his  writings,  i.  465  ; 
attacks  Jesuits,  484-488. 

Patin,  Guy,  ii.  457,  468. 

Pau,  plenipotentiary  from  Holland, 
i.  324,  325. 

Paul,  St.  Vincent  de,  his  charities  in 
Lorraine,  i.  189  ;  exhorts  the 
queen,  295  ;  his  charitable  labors, 
ii.  400,  470. 

Paulette,  nature  of  duty,  i.  43  ;  aboli- 
tion demanded  and  agreed  to,  43, 
44,  46  ;  restored,  88  :  value  and  re- 
newal of,  399. 

Pays  d'  Etats,  ii.  374,  375. 

Peas,  favorite  vegetable,  ii.  431. 

Pegnaranda,  Count  of,  i.  468. 

Pensions,  i.  16,  ii.  413,  14. 

Pheasants,  Isle  of,  ii.  323,  325,  326. 

Philip  III.  of  Spain,  his  death,  i.  99. 


Philip  IV.  of  Spain,  his  apathy,  ii, 
298  ;  family,  319. 

Philipsburg  ceded  to  France,  i.  468. 

Picardy,  cruelties  of  soldiers  in,  ii. 
38 ;  condition  during  the  wars, 
405,  406. 

Pimentel,  ii.  320,  321. 

Piombino,  capture  of,  i.  349,  350  ;  re- 
captured by  the  Spanish,  ii.  85. 

Pirates,  ravages  by,  i.  109,  ii.  368,  369; 
of  Dunkirk,  327. 

Place  Royale,  i.  299,  300. 

Plessis,  Morney,  does  not  join  re- 
volt, i.  65. 

Poland,  its  ambassadors  at  Paris,  i. 
351  ;  display  among  its  nobles, 
351,  352. 

Pomerania,  Western,  granted  to  Swe- 
den, i.  478. 

Pons,  Mile,  de,  lady-love  of  Duke  of 
Guise,  i.  358,  370 ;  her  lawsuit 
with  him,  ii.  261. 

Pons,  Mme.  de,  ii.  50  ;  marries  Duke 
of  Richelieu,  62. 

Pontoise,  Parliament  of,  ii.  202  ;. 
asks  Mazarin's  retirement,  203  ;  re- 
called to  Paris,  214. 

Port  Royal,  friendly  to  Retz,  ii.  277  ; 
literary  influence  of,  465  ;  monas- 
tery of  ,471 ;  its  reformation, 472, 473  ^ 
its  zeal,  475  ;  defends  Jansenius, 
479  ;  recluses  at,  481  ;  schools  of, 
483  ;  literature  of,  484  ;  miracles  at, 
490 ;  persecutions  of  491  ;  its  dis- 
solution, 492. 

Porto  Longone,  capture  of,  i.  349  ; 
recaptured  by  the  Spanish,  ii.  85. 

Portugal,  revolts  against  Spain,  i. 
204  ;  abandoned  by  Mazarin,  ii. 
322  ;  not  recognized  in  peace  of 
Pyrenees,  329,  330  ;  assisted  by 
France,  346. 

Postage,  Rates  of,  ii.  452. 

Posts,  under  control  of  government, 
ii.  452. 

Prague,  treaty  of,  i.  173  ;  capture  of, 

475. 
Press,  license  of,  ii.  437. 
Princes,  Possessory.  See  Brandenbui^ 

and  Neuburg. 
Princess,  Palatine,  Anna  of  Gonzagna, 

claims    to  be  married  to  Guise,  i. 

358  ;    forms  alliance  against  Maz- 
arin, ii.  94,  95. 
Prisons,  Condition  of,  ii.  454. 
Protestants,    complaints    of    those  in 

Germany,  i.  471,  472;  terms  granted 

them,  479-481. 


INDEX. 


507 


Provence,  province  of,  Order  restored 

in,  ii.  231. 
Provincial   Letters,  The,  ii.  484-488  ; 

put  on  index,  489. 
Puritans,  resemblance  to  Jansenists, 

ii.  480. 
Pyrenees,   Peace  of,  ii.  323,  327,  329, 

330  ;  terms  of,  332  ;  results  of,  333, 

334- 

Rambouillet,  Hotel  de,  ii.  462,  463. 

Rantzau,  General,  taken  prisoner,  i. 
276  ;  his  drunkenness,  338. 

Ratisbon,  treaty  of,  i.  159  ;  diet  at, 
452. 

Ravaillac,  murders  Henry  IV.,  1.  9  ; 
fortunes  and   fortitude,  13,  14. 

Re,  Island  of,  attacked  by  the  Eng- 
lish, i.  118. 

Registration,  Right  of,  i.  387,  388. 

Renard,  Gardens  of,  ii.  40,  445,  446. 

Renaudot,  Theophraste,  ii.  438. 

Rentes,  of  Hotel  de  Ville,  i.  302  ; 
failure  to  pay,  ii.  53  ;  amount  of, 
381  ;  fraudulent  issues,  382. 

Requests,  Masters  of,  new  ones  cre- 
ated, i.  394  ;  suspended  from  office, 
396  ;  additional  creation  of,  re- 
voked, 4 19. 

Rethel,  Battle  of,  ii.  93. 

Retz,  Cardinal  of,  his  early  life,  i,  428, 
429  ;  made  coadjutor,  430  ;  takes 
part  in  popular  commotions,  431, 
432;  attacks  edict  as  to  loans,  ii.  5  ; 
raises  soldiers,  9  ;  opposes  peace, 
29  ;  demands  nothing  for  himself, 
30 ;  assists  rentiers,  53  ;  accused 
before  Parliament, 56,  58;  negotiates 
with  the  Court,  63  ;  becomes  favor- 
ite of  Orleans,  84  ;  asks  to  be  made 
cardinal,  89  ;  is  refused,  91  ;  speaks 
for  Orleans,  102  ;  goes  into  retire- 
ment, 128  ;  joins  the  regent,  129, 
133  ;  opposes  Conde,  136,  169  ;  is 
nearly  murdered,  137;  gains  favor 
with  the  queen,  139  ;  nominated  for 
cardinal,  151  ;  will  not  declare  for 
Mazarin,  154  ;  attempt  to  kidnap 
him,  155  ;  his  intrigues  at  Rome, 
161-168  ;  is  made  cardinal,  168  ; 
heads  deputation  to  the  king,  207  ; 
his  vacillating  policy,  216  ;  his  ar- 
rest, 217  ;  becomes  archbishop  of 
Paris,  262  ;  agrees  to  resign,  263  ; 
escapes  from  prison,  264  ;  goes  to 
Spain,  265  ;  reaches  Rome,  266  ; 
defends  himself,  267  ;  his  conduct 
at  conclave,  268,  269  ;  receives  pal- 


lium,   271  ;    appoints  vicars,    262, 
272  ;   fears   to  issue   an  interdict, 
274  ;  appoints  a  grand  vicar,   276  ; 
leaves  Rome,  277  ;  end  of  his  ca- 
reer,  277,  278  ;  expenses  of,   414  ; 
his  memoirs,  468. 
Rhodes,  Mme.  de,  ii.  95 
Richelieu,  Cardinal  of,  general  policy, 
i.  25  ;  policy  against  the    nobility, 
22  ;  spokesman  of  clergy  at  States- 
General,    54 ;    receives  office  from 
Concini,    72  ;    his    early  life,    73  ; 
views  on  taking  office,  74  ;  defends- 
Concini,  76  ;  disgraced,  79  ;  recon- 
ciled with  king,  82  ;  is  made  cardi- 
nal,   96  ;    becomes   chief   minister, 
97  ;  relations  with  king,  98  ;  nature 
of  his  administration,  loi  ;  attacks 
the   Valteline,    105  ;    his  views  on 
the     Huguenots,     106  ;     proceeds 
against  the  farmers  of  taxes,  107  ; 
orders   the  destruction    of    useless 
cattle,  109  ;  organizes  trading  com- 
panies,   III  ;    appoints  superinten- 
dents, 113  ;  plans  invasion  of  Eng- 
land, 118  ;  his  exertions  at  the  siege 
of  La  Rochelle,    121,    124  ;  passes 
through   France   in   triumph,  131  ; 
his   foreign   policy,    132  ;    quarrels 
with  Mary  de  Mjsdici,    133  ;  com- 
plaints  againstj-o^^    210 ;    allies 
himself  with   Gustavus    Adolphus, 
156  ;  refuses  to  ratify  treaty  of  Rat- 
isbon,   159 ;   jealous   of   Gustavus, 
168  ;    wishes     to     be    Elector    of 
Treves,  170  ;  wishes  to  annex  part 
of  Low  Countries,   175  ;  his  cour- 
age, 178  ;  in  danger  of   assassina- 
tion, 180  ;  interferes  in  Savoy,  183  ; 
his  anger  at  La  Valette,  185  ;  wishes 
to  annex  Lorraine,  186,  188  ;  makes 
terms  with  Duke  of  Lorraine,  189  ; 
persuades  Louis  to  dismiss  Caussin, 
199  ;     examines     charges     against 
Anne   of  Austria,  200 ;  hires  Wei- 
mar's army,  203  ;  his  taste  for  pleas- 
ures and   works  of  art,    208 ;   his 
hours   of   work,    212  ;    his  illness, 
218 ;   discovers  Cinq   Mars'   treaty 
with   Spain,    220;  meets   the   king 
again,  223  ;  dictates  Louis'  conver- 
sation with  his  wife,  224 ;  his  voy- 
age up  the  Rhone,  225  ;  last  jour- 
ney to  Paris,  227  ;  his  death,  228  ; 
his  will,  229;  recommends  Mazarin 
as  his  successor,  230  ;  his  letters  ta 
Mazarin,    240,   241 ;    his  anger  at 
Enghien,  267  ;    his  policy  with  the 
Parliament,    391  ;  sells  his  bishop- 


508       FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


ric,  ii.  424  ;  his  palace,  440  ;  his 
superstition,  456. 

Richelieu,  Duke  of,  commands  fleet  at 
Naples,  i.  367  ;  his  marriage,  ii.  62. 

Richon  of  Bordeaux,  ii.  76. 

Rivers,  Inundations  from,  ii.  393,  394. 

Riviere,  Abbe  of,  makes  terms  for 
Orleans,  i.  222  ;  his  control  ovC': 
Orleans,  326  ;  nominated  for  cardi- 
nal, 402  ;  nomination  revoked,  ii. 
10 ;  overthrow  of,  66. 

Robbers,  ii.  448,  449,  451. 

Rochefoucauld,  Duke  of,  relations 
with  Mme.  de  Longueville,  ii.  11  ; 
his  demands,  31  ;  takes  up  arms, 
68  ;  engaged  in  rebellion  at  Bor- 
deaux, 79-81  ;  his  quarrel  with 
Retz,  137  ;  uncertain  in  his  views, 
145,  179  ;  jealous  of  Mme.  de 
Longueville,  179  ;  severely  wound- 
ed, 191  ;  receives  money  from  Fou- 
quet,  339  ;  his  maxims,  468. 

Rocroi,  battle  of,  i.  267—271  ;  cap- 
tured by  Conde,  ii.   247. 

Rohan,  Henry,  Duke  of,  joins  Conde, 
i.  66  ;  complains  of  his  party,  89  ; 
receives  terms,  90  ;  leads  another 
revolt,  105  ;  his  letter  to  Conde, 
127  ;  makes  treaty  with  Spain,  128  ; 
his  death,  204. 

Rohan, Duchess  of,herfoititude,i.i23. 

Rouen,  city  of,  Fine  imposed  upon,  i. 
305. 

Rouillac,  Marquis  of,  ii.  136. 

Rouillon,  annexed  to  France,  i.  206  ; 
becomes  entirely  joined  to  France, 
227  ;  ceded  by  treaty,  ii.  332. 

Rudolph  II.,  his  character,  i.  146  ; 
grants  majesty  letter,  147. 

Ruel,  i.  437  ;  conference  at,  ii.,  23  ; 
treaty  of,  26,  33. 

Russia,  makes  treaty  with  France,  ii. 

345.  369- 
Rye,  Price  of,  ii.  389. 

Saavedra,  Count  of,  i.  458. 
Sacchetti,  Cardinal,  nuncio  at  Milan, 

1,    235  ;  supported  for   Pope,  341  ; 

ii.  268,  269  ;  befriends  Chigi,  270. 
Saint      Chamond,      ambassador      at 

Rome,  i.  341,  343,  344. 
Saint  Cyran,  Abbe  of,  imprisonment 

under  Richelieu,    i.    245,    ii.  476  ; 

connection  with   Port  Royal,  476  ; 

defends  Jansenism,  478,  479. 
Saint  Denis,  captured  by  Conde  and 

by  Turenne,  li.  181-183. 
Saint  Germain,  resort  for  Court,  ii.  6. 
Saint  Louis,   Chamber  of,  resolution 

for  union  of   courts   there,  i.  400  ; 


conference  there  forbidden,  401  ;  al- 
lowed, 407  ;  conference  at,  409  ; 
proposals  made  there,  412-415. 

Saint  Megrin,  Marquis  of,  ii.  190. 

Saint  Simon,  Duke  of,  assists  Riche- 
lieu, i.  135,  136. 

Sales.  Saint  Francis  of,  ii.  473,  474. 

Salt,  Price  of,  ii.  377,  378. 

Salvius,  i.  459,  465. 

Santinelli,  ii.  310. 

Savaron,  Jean,  attacks  the  paulette 
and  nobility,  i.  44. 

Savoy,  Charles  Emmanuel,  Duke  of, 
claims  Montferrat,  i.  236. 

Savoy,  Charles  Emmanuel  II.,  Duke 
of,  persecutes  the  Vaudois,  ii.  295  ; 
obliged  to  desist,  296. 

Savoy,  Duchess  of,  protected  by  Riche- 
lieu, i.  183. 

Savoy,  Margaret  of,  ii.  318,  321. 

Savoy,  Thomas,  Prince  of,  surrenders 
Turin,  i.  207  ;  his  failure  at  Orbi- 
tello,  347,  348. 

Saxe  Weimar,  Bernard,  Duke  of,  em- 
ployed by  Richelieu,  i.  177. 

Saxony,  Elector  of,  protected  by  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus,  i.  162  ;  abandons 
Protestants,  173. 

Schomberg,  Marshal  of,  commands 
forces  against  Montmorenci,  i.  140  ; 
commands  at  Casal,  238. 

Scudery,  Mile,  de,  ii.  464,  465. 

Secretaries  of  State,  nature  of  their 
offices,  ii.  357,  358. 

Sedan,  City  of,  surrendered  to  France, 
i.  226. 

Seguier,  Chancellor,  appointed  mem- 
ber of  council,  i.  249  ;  presides  at 
Bed  of  Justice,  259,  260 ;  attacked 
by  the  mob,  432,  433  ;  surrenders 
the  seals,  ii.  69,  144. 

Seneterre,  La  Ferte,  Marshal  of,  cap- 
tured at  Rocroi,  i.  269  ;  his  blun- 
ders, ii.  247,  300. 

Seni,  astrologer  of  Wallenstein,  i.  154, 

Servien,  Abel,  ambassador  at  MUnster, 
i.  456 ;  attacked  by  Mazarin  and 
Conde,  ii.  125,  126,  131  ;  relnoved 
from  office,  132  ;  reconciled  ^vith 
Mazarin  and  advises  vigorous  pol- 
icy, 209  ;  made  superintendent  of 
finance,  230. 

Sevigne,  Mme.  de,  friend  of  Fouquet, 
ii.  339  ;  her  letters,  467. 

Ships,  size  of,  i.  279,  ii.  364,  365  ; 
ironclad,  ii.  151. 

Shoes,  Price  of,  ii.  390. 

Sillery,  Chancellor  of,  retires  from 
office,   i.   72. 

Sirot,  Baron  of    his  valor  at  Rocroi, 


INDEX. 


509 


i.  270 ;  taken  prisoner,  276 ;  his 
achievements  and  death,  ii,  171. 

Soissons,  Count  of,  absent  at  corona- 
tion, i.  15  ;  hostile  to  Sully,  15  ; 
governor  of  Normandy,  24  ;  amounts 
paid  him,  76. 

Soissons,  Count  of,  son  of  above, 
commands  in  Picardy,  i.  179  ;  plots 
against  Richelieu,  180;  leads  a  re- 
bellion, 209  ;  is  killed.  210. 

Soissons,  Countess  of  (see  Olympe 
Mancini). 

Sorbonne,  The,  receives  bequests  from 
Richelieu,  1.  230 ;  Richelieu  is 
buried  there,  246  ;  believes  in 
witchcraft,    458. 

Soubise,  Duke  of,  exiled  to  England, 
i.  105. 

Spain,  condition  of,  under  Olivarez,  i. 
279  ;  makes  peace  with  United  Prov- 
inces, 337,  339  ;  character  of  war 
with  France,  449  ;  hopes  for  better 
terms  from  the  Fronde,  ii.  42  ;  as- 
sists Conde,  147  ;  victories  over  the 
French,  222-226  ;  does  not  assist 
Guienne,  238,  240,  241  ;  recognizes 
English  republic,  287  ;  endeavors 
to  make  treaty  with  England,  292  ; 
refuses  peace  with  France,  299  ; 
loses  influence  in  Germany,  315, 
317  ;  law  of  succession,  318  ;  offers 
peace,  320,  322. 

Spinola,  Marquis  of,  commands  at 
Casal,   i.    236. 

Stamp  duty,  first  imposed  in  France, 
ii.  278. 

States-General,  no  demand  for,  i.  3  ; 
do  not  gain  in  power,  5  ;  history  of, 
30-32  ;  representation  in,  33,  34  ; 
election  of  delegates,  35,  36  ; 
powers  wane,  37  ;  defects  in,  37- 
39 ;  States  of  Paris,  38  ;  Statts- 
General  of  1614,  40  ;  organization, 
42  ;  changes  suggested  in,  46  ;  quar- 
rels in,  51  ;  cahiers  presented,  54-58  ; 
hall  closed,  58,  59  ;  demand  for,  ii. 
114-117;  session  abandoned,  139. 

Stenai,  Siege  and  capture  of,  ii.  256, 

257- 
Stralsund,  Siege  of,  i.  155. 
Streets  (see  highways). 
Sugar,   Price  and  consumption  of,  ii. 

391- 
Sully,  Duke  of,  flies  to  Bastille,  i,  9  ; 
favor  under  Henry,  14,  15  ;  charac- 
ter, 15  ;  removed  from  office,  16  ; 
wealth  of,  17  ;  life  at  Villebon,  18  ; 
elms  named  after  him,  26  ;  unites 
with  Conde,  66. 


Superintendents,  nature  of  their  office, 
i.  113  ;  feeling  against,  415  ;  offices 
abolished,  417. 

Superintendent  of  Finance,  nature 
and  value  of  this  office,  ii.  358,  359. 

Superstition,  ii.  456,  457. 

Sweden,  plans  for  her  aggrandize- 
ment, i.  170  ;  makes  war  with  Den- 
mark, 319  ;  negotiates  about  peace, 
453-455  ;  terms  demanded  by,  463, 
466,  469,  470  ;  acquires  Pomerania, 
Bremen,  and  Berden,  478  ;  wars  of, 
ii.  345- 

Tabouret,  The,  ii.  50. 

Taille,  reduction  asked  in,  i.  44,  46  ; 
amount  of,  83,  301  ;  reduction  in, 
419,  443,  444  ;  nature  and  severity 
of,  ii.  371-373  ;  mode  of  collecting, 
in  countries  of  States,  374. 

Talon,  Omer,  Advocate-General,  his 
opinion  on  Orleans'  evidence,  i. 
226  ;  abuses  the  ministers,  261  ;  his 
address  before  Parliament,  394,  395, 
speech  at  king's  majority,  ii.  141. 

Taxes,  amount  of,  i.  301-303  ;  in- 
surrection caused  by,  304-307  ;  on 
baptisms,  funerals,  and  stamps,  ii. 
278  ;  weight  of,   373. 

Tea,  its  use,  ii.  431. 

Theatres,  ii.  431,  435  ;  price  of  seats, 
436. 

Thionville,  City  of,  its  capture,  i.  273. 

Third  Estate,  Representation  of,  in 
States-General,  134  ;  deputies  and 
cahiers  of,  36,  37,  40  ;  influence  of, 
40;  quarrels  with  nobility,  44,  51  ; 
cahiers,  55-58. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  The,  its  origin,  i. 
145-147  ;  review  of,  447-449  ;  rava- 
ges of,  450. 

Tilly,  captures  Magdeburg,  i.  l6l  ; 
defeated  at  Breitenfeld,  162  ;  is 
mortally  wounded,  164. 

Tobacco,  Consumption  of,  ii.  391. 

Toise,  The,  i.  307-309. 

Tolls,  Number  of,  ii.  366. 

Torture,  still  used,  ii.  453-454. 

Toulon,  Trade  of,  ii.  369. 

Tour,  De  la.  Family  of,  i.  277. 

Trading  companies,  Organization  of, 
i.  III. 

Transportation,  Cost  of,  ii.  366,  367. 

Trautmansdorff.  i.  468. 

Travel,  Time  required  for,  ii.  451, 
452. 

Tremouille,  Duke  of.  ii.  24. 

Trent,  Council  of,  decrees  not  re- 
ceived, i.  47,  49,  67. 


510       FRANCE    UNDER  RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 


Treves,  Elector  of,  restored,  i.  322  ; 
purchased  by  Austria,  ii.  314. 

Turenne,  Marshal  of,  attracts  atten- 
tion at  Turin,  i.  208  ;  soldier  at 
fourteen,  266  ;  made  marshal  and 
appointed  commander  of  army  in 
Germany,  278  ;  takes  part  in  battle 
of  Freiburg,  316  ;  defeated  at  Mari- 
enthal,  319  ;  conduct  at  Nordlingen, 
321  ;  captures  Treves,  322  ;  his 
army  rebels,  324  ;  takes  up  arms 
for  Fronde,  ii.  24  ;  deserted  by  his 
army,  32  ;  again  in  rebellion,  81,  82  ; 
defeated  at  Rethel,  93  ;  refuses  to 
join  Conde,  148  ;  commands  king's 
army,  175  ;  besieges  Etampes,  185  ; 
commands  at  battle  of  Faubourg 
St.  Antoine,  189,  193 ;  opposes 
Lorraine,  206 ;  his  campaign  in 
Champagne,  226,  227  ;  commands 
French  army,  246,  247  ;  marches  to 
Arras,  256  ;  raises  the  siege,  258  ; 
defeated  at  Valenciennes,  300  ;  cuts 
up  his  plate  to  pay  the  soldiers,  303  ; 
his  victory  at  the  Dunes,  304,  305  ; 
his  further  successes,  306 ;  made 
Marshal-General,  335. 

Turin,  Treaty  of,  i.  240. 

Ulm,  Treaty  of,  i.  323. 

United  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands, 
alliance  vnth  France,  i.  175  ;  slack 
in.  their  assistance,  325  ;  jealous  of 
France,  330,  334  ;  make  peace  with 
Spain,  337,  339 ;  make  further 
treaty  with  France,  456  ;  their  re- 
lations with  England,  ii.  285,  290, 
292. 

University  of  Paris,  ii.  450,  452. 

Urban  VIII.,  sends  embassy  to  Milan, 
i.  235  ;  his  character,  340,  341  ;  his 
endeavors  for  peace,  451. 

Usorio,  Don,  loses  Bourg,  ii.  241. 

Valen9ay,  Bailly  of,  minister  at  Rome, 

ii,  164,  165,  168. 
Valenciennes,  Siege  of,  ii.  299,  300. 
Valteline,    The,    rebels    against    the 

Grisons,  i.  104  ;  peace  in  the,  106. 
Vauban,  Marshal  of,  ii.  257. 
Vaudois,  The,  persecution  of,  ii.  295, 

296. 
Vautier  thrown  into   the  Bastille,    i. 

137- 
Veal,  Price  of,  ii.  390. 
Vendome,  Duke  of,   leaves  Court,  i. 

27  ;   cruelties  of  his  soldiers,   29  ; 

again  in  revolt,  65  ;  amounts  paid 

him,    76 ;    returns   from    England, 


245  ;  his  demands,  284,  287  ;  re- 
tires to  Italy,  294  ;  commands  fleet 
at  Bordeaux,  ii.  238,  240 ;  enters 
Bordeaux,  245. 

Venice  receives  aid  from  France,  ii. 
345- 

Vieuville,  La,  Duke  of,  head  of  the 
government,  i.  97 ;  convicted  of 
fraud,  107  ;  made  superintendent  of 
finances,  ii.  144. 

Vigean,  Mile,  du,  ii.  190. 

Vilars,  Leader  of  Ormee,  ii.  234  ;  his 
treachery,  237  ;  favors  Spain,  241  ; 
escapes  from  Bordeaux.  245. 

Villeroy,  Secretary  of  State,  retires 
from  office,  i.  72  ;  restored  to  office, 

Viole,  President,  his  address  in  Parlia- 
ment, i.  440. 

Vitry,  Marshal  of,  assassinates  Con- 
cini,  i.  78  ;  made  marshal,  80  ;  re- 
leased from  imprisonment,  245. 

Voiture,  Vincent,  ii.  464. 

Volmar,  Dr.  i.  458,  464. 

Wages,  of  soldiers,  ii.  363  ;  of  labor- 
ers, 385  ;  of  artisans  and  domestic 
servants,  386  ;  purchasing  power  of. 

390- 

Wallenstein,  Duke  of,  raises  an  army 
for  the  emperor,  i.,  152  ;  his  char- 
acter, 154  ;  his  successes,  155  ;  is 
removed  from  command,  158  ;  lives 
in  great  state,  159  ;  again  assumes 
command,  164  ;  marches  to  NUrn- 
berg,  166  ;  his  plots,  171  ;  his 
murder,  173. 

Weimar,  Duke  of,  captures  Brisach, 
his  ambitions  and  death,  i.  203. 

Wert,  John  de,  invades  Picardy,  i. 
178  ;  his  victory  at  DUtlingen,  276  ; 
prisoner  in  France,  ii.  476. 

Westphalia,  Treaty  of,  condemned  by 
Pope,  i,  477  ;  signed,  477  ;  terms 
of,  478-482  ;  results  of,  482  ;  criti- 
cism upon,  ii.  I  ;  ratification  of,  42. 

Wheat,  price  of,  ii.  15,  177,  387-389  ; 
consumption  of,  391. 

Witchcraft,  Prosecutions  for,  ii.  457- 

459- 
Wladislas,   King  of   Poland,    marries 

Marie  of  Gonzagna,  i.  351,  352. 
Wurtemburg,  condition  during  Thirty 

Years'  War,  i.  450. 

York,  Duke  of,  his  gallant  service  in 
French  army,  ii.  258  ;  approves 
Mazarin's  conduct,  297  ;  marries 
grand  niece  of  Mazarin,  351. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS. 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR.  By  Anton 
GiNDELY,  Professor  of  German  History  in  the  University  of  Prague. 
Translated  by  Andrew  Ten  Brook,  recently  Professor  of  Mental 
Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Michigan.  Second  Edition.  Two 
volumes,  octavo,  with  maps  and  illustrations      .         .         .         $4  oo 

This  most  important  period  of  European  History,  a  right  understanding  of  which 
is  essential  to  the  proper  comprehension  of  Europe  to-day,  has  long  waited  for  an  his- 
torian. The  work  of  ochilbr,  while  thorough'.y  readable,  was  written  vithout  any  special 
historical  preparation,  and  at  a  time  when  the  collections  of  government  archives  were  not 
accessible.  The  little  handbook  of  Gardiner  is  a  most  admirable  summary,  but  is  too 
condensed  for  general  reading.  It  is  believed  that  the  present  work,  which  has  been  pre< 
pared  by  an  historian  of  the  highest  position  and  authority,  and  while  thoroughly  trust* 
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all  the  requirements,  and  will  remain  the  authority  on  the  subject. 

"  May  safely  be  pronounced  better  than  the  best." — Dis.  0/  Christ,  CincinnatL 

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"  The  translator  has  not  only  performed  his  task  in  a  masterly  manner,  but  by  his 
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"  It  will  doubtless  take  its  place  at  once  as  the  work  of  standard  authority  on  the 
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"  Beyond  all  question  the  best  history  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  yet  published." 
•^Phila.  Item. 

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"  Unquestionably  the  best  history  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  that  has  ever  been 
written." — Baltimore  American. 

"  Must  take  a  high  and  permanent  place  in  historical  literature." — Brooklyn  Eagle, 
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given  us  a  history  of  this  period  which  bids  fair  to  bring  the  two  lines  (scholarly  and 

popular  thought)  together. 

"  It  would  be  hard  to  name  among  recent  works  a  more  overwhelming  indictment 
of  the  policy  and  methods  of  imperial  Jesuitry — a  more  satisfactory  statement  of  what  the 
Roman  Papacy  owes  to  the  art  and  devotion  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  ;  nor,  we  may  add,  a 
more  thorough  exposure  of  the  Macaulay  romance,  that  the  Reformation  in  its  spread  fol- 
lowed the  Saxon  and  Northern  races,  and  proved  unacceptable  to  people  of  Romanic 
descent. '— A^.  1'.  Independent. 

"  He  writes  with  the  calmness  of  a  philosopher  and  the  correctness  of  a  scholar, 
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Tel€gr»m. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS. 
A  Companion  to  Gindely's  Thirty  Years*  War, 

LIFE   AND  TIMES  OF  GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS.      By  the 

Hon,  John  L.  Stevens,  LL.D.,  recently  United  States  Minister  to 
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and  the  author  is  singularly  free  from  partisanship.  As  tno  leriod  -»Ir.  Stevens  describes 
was  full  of  heroic  devotion,  *  The  History  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  -s  _;ot  alone  singularly 
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"  It  would  be  difficult  to  speak  too  kindly  of  Mr.  John  L.  Stevens'  admirable 
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York  by  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.  *  *  *  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  Mr.  Stevens* 
book  is  at  once  more  artistic  in  its  conception,  and  will  most  likely  prove  more  acceptable 
to  the  average  modern  English  and  American,  reader,  than  any  previous  works  on  this 
subject." — Philadelphia  Times. 

"  It  is  a  well-constructed  historical  biography,  a  useful  apparatus  for  the  easy 
study  of  European  events  of  the  seventeenth  century.  We  find  in  Mr.  Stevens'  pages  a 
clear  conception  of  Gustavus'  character,  strongly  and  impressively  represented.  *  *  * 
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and  forcible.  We  do  not  know  of  any  English  life  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  which  ap- 
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— Boston  Literary  World. 

"  The  story  of  the  life  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  has  been  often  told,  but  so  romantic 
is  it  in  its  elements,  so  thrilling  in  action,  and  so  admirable  in  lofty  qualities,  that  it  will 
bear  re-telling  almost  without  end.  A  new  version  of  marked  ability  and  attractiveness- 
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holm. It  fills  an  octavo  volume  of  four  hundred  and  twenty-seven  pages,  but  it  seems  not 
a  page  too  long,  thanks  to  the  varied  interest  of  incident  and  the  charm  of  style." — N.  Y. 
Home  yournal. 

"  Mr.  Stevens  is  possessed  of  unusual  abilities  for  the  preparation  of  such  a  work 
as  this.  An  able  writer,  with  a  mind  trained  in  the  school  of  practical,  political,  and 
diplomatic  affairs,  and  enriched  and  strengthened  by  close  study  of  books  and  keen  obser- 
vation of  men,  having  had  six  years'  service  at  the  Swedish  Court  as  United  States- 
Minister,  the  very  theatre  on  which  the  memorable  deeds  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  were 
wrought,  his  work  shows  the  master-hand  in  every  page." — Kennebec  Journal. 

"  This  new  biography  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  the  Great  is  a  valuable  contribution 
to  history.  ♦  *  ♦  Mr.  Stevens  has  grouped  the  events  of  European  history  during  the 
lifetime  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  a  masterly  manner.  So  much  of  the  history  and  issues 
of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  as  was  included  in  the  relations  which  the  Swedish  hero  bore  to 
its  events,  is  clearly  and  perspicuously  described.  Ample  justice  is  done  in  the  pages  of 
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biog^phical  history,  for  which  a  vacant  place  has  been  waiting  upon  library  shelves."— 
Minneapolis  Tribune. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS. 

A  History  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  By  Anton  Gindely,  Professor 
of  German  History  in  the  University  of  Prague.  Translated  by 
Andrew  Ten  Brook,  recently  Professor  of  Mental  Philosophy  in  the 
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written." — Baltimore  American. 

A  History  of  American  Literature.     By  Moses  Coit  Tyi^er,  Professor 

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Prose  Masterpieces  from  Modern  Essayists.  Comprising  single 
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G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  Pubushers.  New  York  and  London. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS. 

France  under  Mazarin.  By  James  Breck  Perkins.  With  a  Sketch 
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The  Peace  of  Utrecht.     By  James  W.  Gerard.      An  Historical  Review 

of  the  Great  Treaty  of  17 13-14,  and  of  the  Principal  Events  of  the  War 

of  the   Spanish   Succession.      With   Maps.      Octavo,    cloth,  bevelled 

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English  Thought  in  the  Eighteenth  Century.  By  Leslie  Stephen, 
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Among  topics  discussed  are  :  Foreign  Force  and  Influence,  Dissensions 
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A  History  of  English  Prose    Fiction.     By  Bayard  Tuckerman. 

From  Sir  Edward  Malory  to  George  Eliot. 

Crown  octavo,  pp.  331      ....  ...       I  75 

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